ASSESSMENT OF THE APPROPRIATENESS OF SERVICES PROVIDED BY A MULTIDISCIPLINARY MENINGOMYELOCELE CLINIC

Since 1969, the Meningomyelocele Clinic at British Columbia's Children 's Hospital has been serving the needs of children with spina bifida. In 1994, the clinic provided urgent and routine multidisciplinary clin ical assessments to 330 patients and families. The purpose of this stu dy was to assess, from the patients' and families' perspective, the ap propriateness of the frequency of routine clinic visits and the value of the health services provided. Sixty-five patients/families were int erviewed and completed a questionnaire developed by the clinic. Curren t visit frequency and services provided appear to meet the patient/fam ily needs. The medical and nursing contributions were seen as valuable resources for the patient/families resulting in most patient/families feeling well informed about spina bifida.