[Quality of an outpatient rheumatology clinic. Consumers' evaluation of medical aspects and service].

As part of our quality assurance programme we designed special questionnaires which addressed expectations concerning medical aspects and service at our out-patient rheumatology clinic, and the degree of satisfaction. These questionnaires were answered by 97 patients, 86 referring general practitioners and five rheumatologists. The principle purpose of the consultation with the specialist, both for patients and referring practitioners, was to obtain or confirm the diagnosis. 76% of the patients and 91% of the general practitioners were satisfied with the medical aspect of the consultation. The dissatisfied patients were mainly those with symptomatic diagnoses (pain syndromes) not explained by objective changes. As for the service, long waiting time before consultation or before receiving the specialist's report was the main reason for dissatisfaction among patients and referring practitioners respectively.