Chapter 9
Investigations
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CHAPTER 9: INVESTIGATIONS
Investigations are important tools to screen for, diagnose, assess severity, monitor and determine treatment options. Medical investigations are essential to the processes of medical care but having more
investigations done do not necessarily result in better health outcomes and may increase healthcare expenditure. The rate at which investigations are ordered per condition or per patient affects the overall
cost-effectiveness of healthcare delivery.
This chapter reports the investigations, including all pathology, imaging or other diagnostic tests which were undertaken for the patients at the point of encounter. The primary care doctors were requested to
document all medical investigations ordered and indicate for which diagnoses were the investigations ordered for. More than one investigation may be ordered for each diagnosis and one investigation may be
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9.1 NUMBERS OF INVESTIGATIONS PER ENCOUNTER
From the total encounters, only 19.6 of the patients had investigations ordered or provided as part of management process during visit to primary care clinics. Figure 9.1 displays the number of investigations
ordered per encounter in public and private clinics. Among those with investigations, majority had only one investigation ordered or provided per encounter. The maximum number of investigations ordered per
encounter was nine public clinic and eight private clinic.
Figure 9.1 Number of investigations ordered per encounter in primary care clinics in 2012
Number of investigations ordered per encounter
20 40
60 80
100
Nil One
Two Three
Four Public
59.8 21.9
7.1 4.5
6.8 Private
89.2 7.0
1.8 1.0
1.0
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