Multidisciplinary care and units for uveitis in the internal medicine departments in Spain: Survey of the Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Group. / Unidades y asistencia multidisciplinar de uveítis en los servicios de medicina interna en España: encuesta del Grupo de Enfermedades Autoinmunes Sistémicas.

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 specialised national reference institutions.