In Spain, the average waiting time for a specialist consultation is 58 days. A determinant\nfactor that contributes to this situation is the poor communication between primary care and specialised\ncare, which is mainly due to the waiting days for a consultation, number of avoided/avoidable\nface-to-face referrals, and waiting days for the resolution of the process. DETELPROG is a referral\nsystem in which the family physician requests a scheduled outpatient internal medicine consultation,\nintegrated into the usual consultations agenda of both physicians, the family, and the outpatient clinic\nphysician, in order to have a telephone consultation. A randomized controlled clinical trial has been\ncarried out to assess the effectiveness of DELTELPROG. In a sample of 255 patients, the experimental\ngroup was referred via a scheduled telephone call, and those in the control group, by face-to-face\nhospital consultation area. The results showed statistically significant differences between both\ngroups of 27 days (95% confidence interval (CI): 20-33) regarding specialised consultation, 47 days\n(95% CI: 17-74) as for the resolution of the process, and 91.7% for avoided face-to-face consultations.\nThe DETELPROG resulted as a low coverage system (53%), which makes it a complementary referral\nmodel. It is necessary to make an in-depth analysis of the causes that have led to this technologically\nlow coverage.
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