Referral of nonurgent children from the emergency department to general practice: compliance and cost savings.

Objective: To evaluate compliance and costs of referral of nonurgent children, who present at the emergency department, to the general practitioner cooperative (GPC).

Materials And Methods: In a prospective observational before-after study, during 6 months in 2008, the triage nurse discussed referral to the GPC with parents, when self-referred children with a nontraumatic problem, aged 3 months-16 years were triaged as nonurgent (levels 4 and 5) according to the Manchester Triage System. A telephone follow-up was performed 2-4 days after referral.