RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 One-year experience of pulmonology triage in a tertiary service JF European Respiratory Journal JO Eur Respir J FD European Respiratory Society SP P4106 VO 44 IS Suppl 58 A1 Pedro Paulo Ayres A1 Anna Miethke-Morais A1 Luis Felipe Prada A1 Regina Maria Carvalho-Pinto A1 Carlos Roberto Carvalho YR 2014 UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P4106.abstract AB Introduction: Our hospital is a referral service to the city of São Paulo and its metropolitan area, serving as a tertiary center for a population of about 19 million inhabitants. Pulmonologists are frequently requested to evaluate other clinics´ outpatients about respiratory complaints, and the first appointment used to take at least 3 months, which was de average time for an available schedule. During the past year, a pulmonology triage was implemented.Methods: Pulmonologists evaluated referred patients on the same day they showed-up with the solicitation form. After a consultation directed to respiratory issues, it was decided about the need of any further investigation or follow up. Data were collect during each evaluation, about patient (gender, age), referral (specialties and motive) and outcome (need or not of further pulmonology follow up). A descriptive analysis was performed.Results: 1349 patients were evaluated (790/58,6% female) from 02/01/2013 to 01/31/2014. The median age was 60 years. They were more often referred from non-surgical specialties (780/57,8%), and cardiologist contributed with 329 (24,4%) referrals. The main motives were obstructive pulmonary diseases (358/26,6%), dyspnea (238/17,7%) and pulmonary nodules (92/6,8%). Further pulmonologist consultation was necessary for 874(64,8%) patients.Discussion: This strategy allowed the first appointment to be much faster, helping to give the proper care to more severe cases and to redirect less complex cases to other units of the healthcare system. After this one-year experience we are aware of the main referral motives, which will allow us to establish institutional protocols to help the case conduction to be more efficient and cost-effective.