Resumo

MEURER, Maria Inês; ZIMMERMANN, Caroline  e  GRANDO, Liliane Janete. Proposal for a guideline for the description of oral lesions as a support tool for professional communication in Oral Medicine. Rev. ABENO [online]. 2015, vol.15, n.3, pp. 03-115. ISSN 1679-5954.

Good written communication is an essential skill for the exchange of information between health professionals. In the context of Brazilian National Health Service, this exchange occurs via referral and reply letters. With regard to oral lesions that require evaluation in secondary care, referral letters allow the assessment of clinical need and the urgency for consultation with the oral health specialist. These factors determine the access priority in the secondary health system. The lack of details and conciseness of the referral letters impacts the patient flow throughout the healthcare levels and hence the quality of healthcare services. In order to improve the quality of information of the referral letters to specialists in Oral Medicine in the Greater Florianopolis city, Santa Catarina, Brazil, a guideline for supporting the description of oral lesions - the OralDESC - has been developed. The guideline is being used in the courses related to oral diagnosis consultations at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. This paper extends the analysis of the problem, discussing some challenges for the implementation of the referral procedures in Brazil as well as the difficulties reported in the country and in other countries regarding the quality of referral letters. Additionally, the paper provides views of some authors on the educational potential of referral and reply letters and the necessity of training health students for written communication. The authors share some thoughts about the need for inclusion of activities in the Brazilian Dentistry curricula aiming at developing communication skills in the students so as to prepare them to work in multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teams.

Palavras-chave : Primary Health Care.; Secondary Care.; Guideline.; Oral Medicine.; Referral and Consultation..