Analysis of referrals after a synergic work between primary care and urology. Impact of joint protocol implementation and a continuing education program in our healthcare area

Abstract Objective To analyse the evolution and adequacy of referrals from primary care to urology, after the implementation of referral protocols on the most frequent urological diseases and the establishment of a continuing education program. Material and methods A primary care-urology work group was created in 2011. Initially, performance and clinical practice protocols in prostatic pathology (BPH and PSA) were established. These were supported by training sessions for primary care physicians. After analysing the effect of the mentioned joint work, 3 more protocols (scrotal pathology, urinary tract infections and urinary incontinence) were included. We analysed and compared the referrals and their adequacy before and after the establishment of the protocols. Results The most common referral causes were symptoms of the lower urinary tract due to BPH, which initially represented 22.8% of the total, and decreased to 16.9%. After the introduction of the new algorithms, we observed a decrease in referrals for scrotal pathology (13–14% to 7.8%), an increase in urinary incontinence referrals (3–10.3%) and those related to urinary tract infections remained stable. The adequacy to the protocols improved progressively: LUTS from 46% to 65.3%; PSA from 55% to 84.4% and urinary incontinence from 66.2% to 73.1%. Adequacy in scrotal pathology decreased (67.1% to 63.3%), while in UTI it stayed much the same (around 76%). Conclusions The joint work between Urology and Primary Care achieves an improvement in referrals adequacy regarding the most frequent urological pathologies.