{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,28]],"date-time":"2026-03-28T05:07:18Z","timestamp":1774674438173,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":181,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"24","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,16]],"date-time":"2022-12-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1671148800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100008982","name":"Qatar National Research Fund","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NPRP12S-0219-190108"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NPRP12S-0219-190108"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100008982","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: The referral process is an important research focus because of the potential consequences of delays, especially for patients with serious medical conditions that need immediate care, such as those with metastatic cancer. Thus, a systematic literature review of recent and influential manuscripts is critical to understanding the current methods and future directions in order to improve the referral process. Methods: A hybrid bibliometric-structured review was conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Searches were conducted of three databases, Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed, in addition to the references from the eligible papers. The papers were considered to be eligible if they were relevant English articles or reviews that were published from January 2010 to June 2021. The searches were conducted using three groups of keywords, and bibliometric analysis was performed, followed by content analysis. Results: A total of 163 papers that were published in impactful journals between January 2010 and June 2021 were selected. These papers were then reviewed, analyzed, and categorized as follows: descriptive analysis (n = 77), cause and effect (n = 12), interventions (n = 50), and quality management (n = 24). Six future research directions were identified. Conclusions: Minimal attention was given to the study of the primary referral of blood cancer cases versus those with solid cancer types, which is a gap that future studies should address. More research is needed in order to optimize the referral process, specifically for suspected hematological cancer patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph192416952","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,19]],"date-time":"2022-12-19T05:25:46Z","timestamp":1671427546000},"page":"16952","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["A Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization of Decision Support Systems for Healthcare Referral Strategies"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7756-0343","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hesham Ali Behary","family":"Aboelkhir","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha 34110, Qatar"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1605-9800","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adel","family":"Elomri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha 34110, Qatar"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6141-9687","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tarek Y.","family":"ElMekkawy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4715-8879","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laoucine","family":"Kerbache","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha 34110, Qatar"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mohamed S.","family":"Elakkad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Surgical Research Section, Department of Surgery, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Abdulla","family":"Al-Ansari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Surgical Research Section, Department of Surgery, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Omar M.","family":"Aboumarzouk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Surgical Research Section, Department of Surgery, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar"},{"name":"College of Medicine, QU-Health, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar"},{"name":"School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing, The University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4112-7924","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abdelfatteh","family":"El Omri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Surgical Research Section, Department of Surgery, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"370","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.325.7360.370","article-title":"Comparison of specialty referral rates in the United Kingdom and the United States: Retrospective cohort analysis","volume":"325","author":"Forrest","year":"2002","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"663","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1964.03060220037011","article-title":"Communication Breakdown in Referral of the Patient","volume":"187","author":"Kunkle","year":"1964","journal-title":"JAMA."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"56","article-title":"Referral and consultation communication between primary care and specialist physicians finding common ground","volume":"171","author":"Reschovsky","year":"2011","journal-title":"Arch Intern. 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