Methods: : Patients referred to our clinic with written consultation form between November 2011 and October 2012 were included in the study. We are working in a chest diseases research and education hospital and the pulmonologists are referring patients to our clinic. In May 2013, four pulmonologist evaluated these written consultation notes. They commented on the intelligibility of the aim of consultation (question 1), the efficacy of the note written by allergy clinic (question 2) and whether the patients benefits from the consultation (question 3). They score these three points according to a ten point scale.
Results: 292 consultation forms were evaluated. Nearly half of the (49.7%) patients were consulted with a diagnosis, the other half was consulted for a symptom. The most consulted symptoms were skin lesions and lower respiratory system symptoms. The most consulted diagnosis were drug allergy and asthma. The most frequent final diagnosis were drug allergy and asthma. Allergic diseases were not considered as a diagnose in a significant portion of patients (15.4%). The pulmonologists gave full 10 point for question 3 in 65.4-84.6% of the patients. The mean score for question 1 was lower than other questions (8.44±2.0 vs 9.47±1.20 and 9.06±1.98 p< 0.01 for both). On the basis of final diagnosis, drug allergy patients' consultations were found to have more appropriate response (9.77±1.19 vs 9.19±1.48 p< 0.01) and found to be more effective (9.50±1.25 vs 8.50±2.53 p< 0.01). Although the score for question1 were lower in asthma patients compared to other diagnosis, the score for appropriate response and efficacy were similar.
Conclusions: Drug allergy and asthma patients were referred to an allergy clinic in a chest diseases hospital. The consultations were mostly found to be effective according to pulmonologists' justice. There are some differences for the scores in terms of diagnosis. These results can give important clues while organizing the allergy clinics daily practice.