Levels of preventive care provided by the healthcare system in Chile

Abstract

Background: The strategies for promoting cardiovascular health and preventing disease carried out in primary care centers are essential to mitigate the risks of illness and death from these causes. The COVID-19 pandemic intended to redirect economic efforts and human capital to exclusively contain this health problem, limiting the strategies for identifying risk factors for non-communicable diseases that are typical of established health strategies contemplated in the Preventive Medicine Examination (EMP), which is led by nursing professionals given their professional skills related to care, its application being an opportunity for the early detection of diseases, thus promoting the health and well-being of the population. The objective of the present research project is to analyze a series of official health services, related to activities derived from the EMP carried out on people over 15 years of age, in a time period between 2015 and 2022 obtained from publicly accessible databases, with the purpose of presenting an overview of the work carried out in the field of health promotion and disease prevention in primary health centers throughout the country, to contribute to the discussion about the importance of these public health functions and strengthen this level of healthcare in the future. Method: A longitudinal, correlational, descriptive study of the EMPs carried out between 2015 and 2022 in Chile, on the FONASA population aged between 15 and 60, using data obtained from the REM A02 data repository, the Department of Health Statistics and Information (DEIS) and the FONASA microsite, which is publicly available. Results: During this period, a considerable proportion of people registered with FONASA were not assessed for cardiovascular risk, despite the availability of professionals. Conclusions: Although these findings are worrying when considering a possible epidemiological scenario of significant increases in people with these pathologies, the present work represents an opportunity for the central administration to work on mitigating health measures, today.