Okuzeka
Medicine vocabulary · Hospital Departments and Staff

Referral

Meaning in medicine, with examples

/rɪˈfɜːrəl/nounCore term

In medicine, referral means: The act of sending a patient to another doctor, specialist team or service for an opinion, tests or treatment; also the letter or request that does this.

In Turkish: sevk, yönlendirme

How it is used

GPs make referrals to hospital specialists, and hospital teams refer patients to each other. The verb is refer (refer someone to someone): 'I'll refer you to a cardiologist.' In the UK a 'two-week-wait referral' is an urgent cancer referral.

Example sentences

  1. I'm going to make a referral to the neurology clinic.

  2. She was referred to the surgeons with suspected gallstones.

Common collocations

  • make a referral
  • urgent referral
  • referral letter
  • refer to a specialist
  • accept a referral
  • general practitionerA doctor based in the community who treats a wide range of everyday health problems, provides long-term care and refers patients to hospital specialists when needed.
  • consultantIn the UK and some other countries, a senior hospital doctor who has finished specialist training and has final responsibility for a team's patients.
  • outpatientA patient who visits a hospital or clinic for an appointment, test or treatment without staying overnight; also used as an adjective for this kind of care.
  • follow-upA later appointment or check to see how a patient is doing after treatment, a test result or a hospital stay.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Hospital Departments and Staff

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level:

This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.