title: Quality of care standards for nursing clinics in rheumatology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nursing clinics in rheumatology (NCR) are organizational models in the field of nursing care. There are various NCR models, but there is no consensus on its operational definition. Our objective is to develop quality standards to define and characterize a NCR.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two-round Delphi method. The panel consisted of 67 experts: Rheumatologists and nurses of the nursing working group of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology (SSR). The Delphi questionnaire was developed after a literature and experience review from previous SSR projects. The questionnaire consists of 7 sections: general considerations, standards of structure, process, treatment and monitoring, health education, training and research and quality of care. Each item was scored from 1 (least important) to 9 (most important) or by assigning a number (e.g., waiting days). The degree of agreement among the experts was categorized according to the coefficient of variation (CoV) between very high (CoV≤25%) and very low (CoV>100%).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The second round questionnaire (182 items) was answered by 46 panelists (34 rheumatologists and 12 nurses). A very important agreement was reached on the general standards of structure, process, treatment and monitoring, health education and quality of care. Less agreement was observed on standards related to training time, number of recommended nurses' research projects and publications.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The standards developed in this study would be useful for establishing desirable quality standards of structure and process, and criteria for clinical work, research and teaching that can be used to develop and evaluate the NCRs.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Reumatología, Hospital Infanta Sofía, San Sebastián de los Reyes, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muñoz Fernández
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lázaro y De Mercado
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alegre López
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Almodóvar González
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alonso Ruiz
authors.forename: Francisco Javier
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Ballina García
authors.forename: Ana María
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bilbao Cantarero
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cabañas Sáenz
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: García-Vicuña
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mínguez Vega
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Padró Blanch
authors.forename: José Andrés
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Román Ivorra
authors.forename: Encarnación
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Roncal Marqueta
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D016294:Models, Nursing; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012216:Rheumatic Diseases / Q000451:nursing*; D012219:Rheumatology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Calidad asistencial; Enfermería; Nursing; Quality of care; Reumatología; Rheumatology