Multidisciplinary care and units for uveitis in the internal medicine departments in Spain: Survey of the Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Group

Abstract

Objective: To identify the multidisciplinary uveitis units in which internal medicine departments participate in collaboration with ophthalmology departments in Spain.

Material and methods: We conducted a multicentre, observational cross-sectional study that collected information using a structured survey sent by email to 1015 partners of the Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Workgroup of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (GEAS-SEMI) from the 1st to the 31st of March 2017.

Results: We identified a total of 21 support units/consultations for the ophthalmology departments. Seventeen (81%) of the units were specific internal medicine-ophthalmology consultations, and 5 (24%) units had been created in the past 5 years. A median of 460 patients were assessed per unit by the end of the year.

Conclusions: This study shows, for the first time in Spain, the important and close collaboration between ophthalmologists and internists, especially in highly specialized national reference institutions.

Keywords: Internal medicine; Medicina interna; Multidisciplinar; Multidisciplinary; Oftalmología; Ophthalmology; Unidades; Units; Uveitis; Uveítis.