Development of a tool to conduct family studies in primary health care

Abstract

Background: The Family and Community Health Model (MAIS) establishes the continuity of care as an essential principle. The Family Study, as a clinical strategy, allows to have sufficient and timely information and knowledge about users of health care services, facilitates their accompaniment and is a source of information to improve the quality of care and the management of health centers. Aim: To develop a tool to conduct family studies, devised by experts in Primary Health Care. Material and Methods: Using a qualitative method, an electronic Delphi was conducted on 24 experts on primary health care. Afterwards, the content validation was carried out with the participation of judges. Results: The resulting tool considers two levels of family assessment. It allows to distinguish those families that would benefit from interventions of greater complexity than those derived from the usual care of health centers. Conclusions: The tool to perform family studies responds to the informational and continuity component of Continuity of Patient Care principle. It may be a proposal for the continuous improvement of Chilean primary care.