Table 1.

Focus Areas of the Myositis-Clinic Team

Focus Area
Principles for referral	Diagnosis/clinical suspicion of inflammatory myopathy or overlap syndrome with dominant myositis component
Infrastructure and technology	Dedicated physical space where appointments occur in the 2 hospitals belonging to CHULN: Hospital de Santa Maria and Hospital Pulido Valente Electronic medical records used (Reuma.pt/Myositis module) includes disease activity assessment tools and allow the standardised collection of data for research Quick access when requesting blood tests for diagnostic (immunoblot for testing for myositis-specific and myositis-associated antibodies) and follow-up purposes Ultrasound guided muscular biopsy Neuropathology facilities for muscle biopsies
Appointments	Scheduled rheumatology appointments Scheduled joint rheumatology-physiatry-dermatology appointments
Meetings	Weekly dedicated biologics decision clinic Monthly discussion with pneumologists and radiologists dedicated to parenchymal lung diseases Monthly discussion with a musculoskeletal radiologist Digital conference discussions of clinical cases with international experts – Clinical Patient Management System (CPMS)
Organisation of human resources	The team is composed of two rheumatologists, one physiatrist and one dermatologist