Referral letter: evaluation of quality of communication between Primary Health Care and Otolaryngology.

The Referral letter, is a fundamental tool in the link between Primary Care and second care level. So the main objective of this study is to evaluate the quality of this document on Otolaryngology Department as a high demand specialty. For this purpose, we conducted a prospective, descriptive and observational study, which analyzed all referral letter sent it from Primary Health Care Centers for a month, and used quality criteria previously defined by Izabal et al.The study included 144 referral letters, which 40.3% were male and 59.7% women, mean age was 50 years. In reference to the quality level, we found that 77.1%, was acceptable, 13.9% good and 9% poor. Regarding compliance with quality criteria, we were found very different results, appearing as readability parameters and current condition in a high number of psychiatric liaison, against personal history and physical exam came barely reflected. In conclusion we can say, there are an improvement can be done, mainly in the sections on physical examination and medical history. To achieve this goal is important and appropriate to develop a referral guide, which clearly establishes the guidelines to follow in the referral patient process.