La Experiencia de salud rural entre las expectativas, la realidad y sus frutos: Relatos de Médicos Generales de Zona y equipos. Años 1963 a 1975.

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Title: La Experiencia de salud rural entre las expectativas, la realidad y sus frutos: Relatos de Médicos Generales de Zona y equipos. Años 1963 a 1975.
Alternate Title: The Rural Health Experience: Expectations, Reality, and Results. Reports from District General Practitioners and Teams. 1963-1975.
Authors: Lastra Torres, Jorge1 cms@colegiomedico.cl
Source: Cuadernos Médico Sociales. 2025, Vol. 65 Issue 2, p43-52. 10p.
Subjects: HEALTH care teams, RURAL health services, RURAL health, GENERAL practitioners, HISTORY of public health
Abstract (English): Between 1967 and 1978, 19 accounts of the experiences of district general practitioners and rural health teams who had completed their internships between 1963 and 1975 were published in the Cuadernos Médico Sociales (Medical Social Notebooks). This was the result of an award established that year by the Medical Association: first, for the best district general practitioner; and then, beginning in 1969, for the best rural health care team. This recognition included the dissemination of these experiences through this journal. As Dr. Carlos Montoya stated years later, "they constitute a detailed, irreplaceable testimony to the creative and determined work of young Chilean doctors in building our health system." (Montoya-Aguilar, C., 2009). The Rural Health Program and the Regional General Practitioners Program were initiatives launched by the National Health Service in the mid-1950s, shortly after its establishment. The service was still in the process of organizing its new healthcare system when it faced the decision to expand its presence and coverage to isolated areas in peripheral centers, where the ratio of physicians and healthcare resources per inhabitant was well below the already insufficient national average. On this occasion, we revisited these narratives to learn about the implementation of these two programs, Rural Health and Regional General Practitioners, at a time when social medicine predominated as a healthcare model and sought to address the unequal distribution of health outcomes and healthcare resources, expanding the healthcare response to those social sectors particularly marginalized by the country's development. By analyzing the main content of these stories, we sought to understand the expectations of those recruited to join these programs, identify the sociodemographic, epidemiological, and cultural profiles, and identify the resources available to provide healthcare to the population in the territory assigned to the healthcare center where they were assigned. Finally, we highlight the performance of these professionals and teams through their achievements in comprehensive medicine, which is a particularly important outcome to understand, in order to uncover the valuable meaning of these experiences and their conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Abstract (Spanish): En el período que va de los años 1967 a 1978 se publicaron en los Cuadernos Médico Sociales 19 relatos de experiencias de médicos generales de zona y de equipos de salud rural que habían realizado sus prácticas entre los años 1963 y 1975; a raíz de un premio que estableció ese año el Colegio Médico: primero, al mejor Médico General de Zona; y luego, a partir del año 1969, al mejor equipo de atención rural. Este reconocimiento incluyó la divulgación de esas experiencias a través de esta Revista. Que como dice el Dr. Carlos Montoya años después, "constituyen un testimonio detallado, insustituible, de la acción creadora y decidida de jóvenes médicos chilenos en la construcción de nuestro Sistema de Salud." (Montoya-Aguilar, C., 2009). El Programa de Salud Rural y de los médicos generales de zona fueron iniciativas puestas en marcha por el Servicio Nacional de Salud a mediados de la década del cincuenta a poco andar de ese Servicio, que todavía se encontraba en proceso de organización de la nueva institucionalidad sanitaria cuando enfrentó la decisión de extender su presencia y cobertura hacia las zonas aisladas de los centros periféricos, donde la proporción de médicos y recursos sanitarios por habitantes era muy por debajo del promedio nacional que ya era insuficiente. En esta oportunidad, hemos vuelto a visitar esas narraciones para conocer de la implementación de esos dos programas, Salud Rural y Médicos Generales de Zona, en una época donde la medicina social predominaba como modelo de salud y deseaba atacar la desigual distribución de resultados en salud y recursos asistenciales, ampliando la respuesta asistencial hacia esos sectores sociales especialmente marginados del desarrollo del país. Del análisis de los principales contenidos de esas historias, buscamos conocer las expectativas de quienes fueron reclutados para incorporarse a esos programas, identificar la realidad del perfil sociodemográfico, epidemiológico y cultural, así como de los recursos puestos al servicio de la atención de salud de la población, correspondiente al territorio asignado al centro asistencial donde fueron destinados. Por último, rescatamos el desempeño de estos profesionales y equipos a través de sus logros en materia de medicina integral, que es un resultado especialmente importante de conocer, para descubrir el valioso significado de estas experiencias y sus condiciones de realización. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: MedicLatina
Description
Abstract:Between 1967 and 1978, 19 accounts of the experiences of district general practitioners and rural health teams who had completed their internships between 1963 and 1975 were published in the Cuadernos Médico Sociales (Medical Social Notebooks). This was the result of an award established that year by the Medical Association: first, for the best district general practitioner; and then, beginning in 1969, for the best rural health care team. This recognition included the dissemination of these experiences through this journal. As Dr. Carlos Montoya stated years later, "they constitute a detailed, irreplaceable testimony to the creative and determined work of young Chilean doctors in building our health system." (Montoya-Aguilar, C., 2009). The Rural Health Program and the Regional General Practitioners Program were initiatives launched by the National Health Service in the mid-1950s, shortly after its establishment. The service was still in the process of organizing its new healthcare system when it faced the decision to expand its presence and coverage to isolated areas in peripheral centers, where the ratio of physicians and healthcare resources per inhabitant was well below the already insufficient national average. On this occasion, we revisited these narratives to learn about the implementation of these two programs, Rural Health and Regional General Practitioners, at a time when social medicine predominated as a healthcare model and sought to address the unequal distribution of health outcomes and healthcare resources, expanding the healthcare response to those social sectors particularly marginalized by the country's development. By analyzing the main content of these stories, we sought to understand the expectations of those recruited to join these programs, identify the sociodemographic, epidemiological, and cultural profiles, and identify the resources available to provide healthcare to the population in the territory assigned to the healthcare center where they were assigned. Finally, we highlight the performance of these professionals and teams through their achievements in comprehensive medicine, which is a particularly important outcome to understand, in order to uncover the valuable meaning of these experiences and their conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:07161336
DOI:10.56116/cms.v65.n2.2025.2326