[Patient orientation clinic: an initiative to reduce waiting lists]

The patient orientation clinic (POC), acting as a filter, is an initiative aimed at reducing the waiting lists for medical specialities.

For a six-months period, an internist and a registered nurse attended 1,265 patients proposed for those specialties.

85.7% of cases were referred to their general practitioners after evaluation at our clinic. The remaining patients (14.3%) went on and frecuently benefited from initial therapies or because complementary tests and/or examinations were arranged for and earlier date.

POC is shaping as a promising tool for health resource management in reducing waiting lists in medical specialties.