Résumé
Internal medicine takes care of patients referred by emergency departments or private practitioners. In the context of saturation of emergency rooms and lack of medical beds, the specialty must be part of an "ambulatory shift", particularly by strengthening the links between liberal and hospital medicine. Our objective is to evaluate a new care pathway in internal medicine. Method: our department has developed an institutional project entitled RAPIDO for "Réseau d'Aide à la PrIse en Charge Diagnostique et d'Orientation". The referring general practitioner contacts a senior internist on a dedicated telephone line who, after evaluation, proposes a consultation within 15 days. A synthetic report is then given to the patient.Results: between November 2020 and November 2021, 254 patients were seen via RAPIDO. The average delay to care was 6.4 (±4.5) days for symptoms lasting for 2 weeks to 3 months in 43% (n=109) of cases. The reason for the call was a suspicion of systemic disease in 28% of cases (n=84) and a functional sign of an organ in 16%. A diagnosis was made in 89% of cases. The system was economically balanced.Conclusion: a fast internal medicine consultation pathway for general practitioners seems to be a relevant, feasible and viable offer of care, which can be transposed to any type of health care institution, provided that sufficient human resources are provided in advance.