[Clinical processes in a high resolution clinic of specialist outpatient clinics]

Quality assessment of orthopedic surgery referral request letters from primary care consultation: Evaluation of a Spanish healthcare area

BACKGROUND

One of the most requested referrals for specialist consultations from primary care (PC) is orthopedic surgery (OS). The purpose of this work was to analyze the number, characteristics, and quality of PC referral request letters in a Spanish healthcare area to their OS reference department.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The referral rates for 10 years were collected, and a total of 6,225 referral letters issued during the first half of 2019 were analyzed in detail. Gender, age, patient provenance, as well as priority and other process descriptors (type of pathology, suspected diagnosis, exploratory signs, imaging tests) were assessed. A scoring system was developed to evaluate the quality of the referral to an OS consultation: Quality evaluation in OS (QEOS) model.

RESULTS

The rate of referral to OS is rising. The mean age of the referred patient was 53 years and 59.3% were women. Degenerative pathologies justified most referral requests (65.7%), most of which related to the spine (24.2%) or the knee (23.2%). In the QEOS analysis of the referral request letters, we noted that only 36.5% described some physical exploration, 32.9% image tool request, 25.8% indicated the pharmacological treatment, and 11.2% subsequent physiotherapy, resulting in a poor average quality of PC to OS patient referral.

CONCLUSION

There is a growing demand for patient referral from PC to OS, however, the number, content, and quality of referral request letters varies greatly. The QEOS tool can be the germ of a simple evaluation system that would help in the improvement of the process of continuous care.

Efectividad de un programa de alta resolución ambulatoria gracias al uso de la Ecografía Urológica

Objetivos Estimar la efectividad de la ecografía en consultas externas de alta resolución de urología. Como objetivos secundarios, se evaluó el impacto de otros factores como la edad, sexo, prioridad y procedencia de la consulta.

Métodos Se analizó retrospectivamente a pacientes que acudieron a una primera visita a la consulta de urología del hospital entre los años 2008-2018.

Se recogieron las variables edad, sexo, procedencia, prioridad de la consulta y realización de ecografía.

Realizamos un análisis descriptivo de aquellos pacientes que resultaron ser alta resolución y de aquellos en los que se había realizado una ecografía. Posteriormente realizamos un análisis univariado mediante el test de chi-cuadrado y multivariado mediante la regresión logística.

Resultados Se incluyeron 32980 primeras visitas, con una edad media en la primera visita de 48,2 años (mediana 48,2) y tratándose en la mayoría de hombres (74,4%).

La proporción de pacientes que pudieron ser dados de alta tras una primera visita, fue del 16% y gracias a la realización de una ecografía llegó al 16,7%.

En el análisis univariado, tanto la procedencia, la prioridad, la ecografía realizada, el sexo y la edad, se asociaron a que la consulta realizada fuera de alta resolución. En el análisis multivariado, se confirmó la asociación de todas las variables (exceptuando la prioridad, p = 0,37), aumentando el riesgo de modo discreto (entre 0,3-0,9 veces).

Conclusiones La ecografía resultó ser una buena herramienta en las consultas de alta resolución, llegándose a realizar hasta casi en un 20% de los casos. Sin embargo, aunque tanto la ecografía como la edad, sexo y procedencia son factores relacionados con la alta resolución, esa relación no es relevante desde un punto de vista clínico.

Clinical and Ultrasound Thyroid Nodule Characteristics and Their Association with Cytological and Histopathological Outcomes: A Retrospective Multicenter Study in High-Resolution Thyroid Nodule Clinics

INTRODUCTION

Thyroid nodules are a common finding. A high-resolution thyroid nodule clinic (HR-TNC) condenses all tests required for the evaluation of thyroid nodules into a single appointment. We aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes at HR-TNCs.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A retrospective cross-sectional multicenter study including data from four HR-TNCs in Spain. We evaluated fine-needle aspiration (FNA) indications and the association between clinical and ultrasound characteristics with cytological and histopathological outcomes.

RESULTS

A total of 2809 thyroid nodules were included; FNA was performed in 82.1%. Thyroid nodules that underwent FNA were more likely larger, isoechoic, with microcalcifications, and in younger subjects. The rate of nondiagnostic FNA was 4.3%. A solid component, irregular margins or microcalcifications, significantly increased the odds of Bethesda IV-V-VI (vs. Bethesda II). Irregular margins and a solid component were independently associated with increased odds of malignancy. Thyroid nodules <20 mm and ≥20-<40 mm had a 6.5-fold and 3.3-fold increased risk for malignancy respectively in comparison with those ≥40 mm.

CONCLUSION

In this large multicenter study, we found that the presence of a solid component and irregular margins are factors independently related to malignancy in thyroid nodules. Since nodule size ≥40 mm was associated with the lowest odds of malignancy, this cut-off should not be a factor leading to indicate thyroid surgery. HR-TNCs were associated with a low rate of nondiagnostic FNA.