Shared medical appointments: balancing efficiency with patient satisfaction and outcomes.

The shared medical appointment (SMA) is one model of care that holds promise for achieving the goal of balancing efficiency, cost, and quality. The results of recent studies of SMAs suggest that improved physiologic health, self-efficacy, and patient education and feasibility emerge as positive outcomes. In order to discover the potential applicability of the SMA format to otolaryngology, a pilot nasal symptoms SMA (NSSMA) model was implemented.