title: [Asistance quality standards in rheumatology].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To developed standards for quality of care and processing times in rheumatology.
  
  
  METHODS
  After a systematic review of the literature, a working group of 10 rheumatologists and 2 methodologists selected 164 indicators of quality of care and processing times. A panel of 65 experts rated the indicators following a Delphi methodology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the most important of the 164 standards obtained were: maximum number of inhabitants per rheumatologist (40,000-50,000); minimum number of rheumatologists in a Rheumatology Unit (3); duration of the first visit (30 minutes) and successive visits (19 minutes), ratio of successive/first visits (3.2); a rheumatologist should receive no more than 5 first visits/day and no more than 11 successive visits/day, and should spend no more than 5 hours on patients visits/day nor more than 4 days/week; the maximum waiting time for first visits should not exceed 4 weeks; the time needed to visit hospitalised patients (43 minutes on admission, 17 minutes for daily visit and 40 minutes at discharge); and time to carry out some of the most frequent procedures in rheumatology (12 minutes for arthrocentesis and infiltrations and 17 minutes for synovial fluid analysis).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study establishes basic standards for quality of care, organisation and process times. It is a useful tool for organizing a Rheumatology Unit which can facilitate dialogue with health administrators and help improve the quality of rheumatology care.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Reumatología. Hospital de Cruces. Barakaldo. Vizcaya. España.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alonso Ruiz
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vidal Fuentes
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tornero Molina
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carbonell Abelló
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lázaro
authors.forename: de
authors.initials: d
authors.lastname: Mercado
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dolores Aguilar Conesa