title: The one-stop clinic as the standard of out-patient care in a hospital urology department.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the performance of a 'one-stop' clinic in terms of proportion of discharges or inclusion in surgical waiting lists.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients were referred from primary care facilities (population 220,646) and from different departments in the hospital. Eight senior urologists, two registered nurses and two nurse attendants participated in the experience. Prior to the start of the project, referral protocols had been agreed with the primary care physicians involved. Compliance with the protocols was periodically tested. Eventually 5537 first visits (January-December 2009) where evaluable.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, the 'one-stop' format proved feasible in 74.2% of the patients (4108/5537). Patients, who successfully used the 'one-stop' format, were significantly younger than those who required additional consultations (43 vs 50 years old, respectively, Student 's t test < 0.001). For obvious reasons the 'one-stop' format was universally possible in male sterilization and penile phimosis patients. Similarly, the 'one-stop' policy was applied in most consultations due to male sexual dysfunction (75%) and urinary tract infection (73%). Other health problems, such as haematuria (62%) and renal colic (46%), required more than one visit so that care of the patient reverted to the traditional, outpatient care model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A 'one-stop' philosophy is feasible for a number of procedures in a urological outpatient clinic. The costs to implement such an approach would be limited to managerial expenditure.
authors.affiliation: Urology Department, Hospital Universitario de Fuenlabrada, Madrid, Spain. apaez.hflr@salud.madrid.org
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Páez
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Redondo
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sáenz
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marín
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Juárez
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Durán
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017146:Models, Organizational; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013030:Spain; D014570:Urologic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D014572:Urology; D014573:Urology Department, Hospital / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014850:Waiting Lists; D055815:Young Adult