General practitioners' and out-of-hours doctors' role as gatekeeper in emergency admissions to somatic hospitals in Norway: registry-based observational study.

GPs or OOH doctors referred many emergencies to somatic hospitals, and for some clinical conditions GPs' and OOH doctors' gatekeeping role was substantial. However, a significant proportion of the emergency admissions was direct, and this reduces the impact of the GPs' and OOH doctors' gatekeeper roles, even in a strict gatekeeping system.