Useful Management Information
- Acute persistent cough is from 2-4 weeks
- Chronic cough is >4 weeks
- Clinical urgency is the dominant consideration in the prioritisation of a referral for a child currently in out of home care (OOHC), or at risk of entering or leaving OOHC.
Clinician resources
- CICADA: Cough in Children and Adults: Diagnosis and Assessment. Australian Cough Guidelines summary statement | The Medical Journal of Australia (mja.com.au)
- If you have a reason to suspect a child in Queensland is experiencing harm, or is at risk of experiencing harm, you need to contact Child Safety Services
- Statement of intent – the prioritisation of health services for children and young people in the child protection system
Minimum Referral Criteria
Category 1 (appointment within 30 calendar days) |
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Category 2 (appointment within 90 calendar days) |
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Category 3 (appointment within 365 calendar days) |
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If your patient does not meet the minimum referral criteria
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Essential Referral Information
- History of the cough:
- duration
- paroxysm-related symptoms such as vomiting or colour change
- Report presence or absence of other respiratory illness
- asthma
- chronic lung disease
- cystic fibrosis
- Chest X-Ray
- Report presence or absence of concerning features
- Persistent fevers
- Night sweats
- Weight loss (if so estimate how much)
- Haemoptysis
- Significant contacts with TB or pertussis
- Confirmation of out of home care (OOHC) (where appropirate)
Additional Referral Information
Desirable information- will assist at consultation
- Other past medical history
- Immunisation history
- Developmental history
- Medication history
- Significant psychosocial risk factors (especially parents mental health, family violence, housing and financial stress, Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services involvement)
- Height/weight/head circumference and growth charts with prior measurements if available.
- Other physical examination findings inclusive of CNS, birth marks or dysmorphology
- Any relevant laboratory results or medical imaging reports, urinalysis result
Send Referrals To
Smart Referrals
Preferred Method
About Smart Referrals
Secure Web Transfer
Send to: Gold Coast Health Service District
Internal Referrals
Paediatric Medicine (E-Blueslips)
Fax
Post
Paediatric Referral Centre
Gold Coast University Hospital
1 Hospital Boulevard
Southport QLD 4215
Enquiries
Service Availability
Facilities
If you would like to send a named referral, please address it to the specialist listed above, who will allocate a suitably qualified specialist to see the patient. Alternatively, you can view a full list of our specialists.
Child Safety
If you have a reason to suspect a child in Queensland is experiencing harm, or is at risk of experiencing harm, contact Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Services . Please consider if mandatory reporting applies.