ABSTRACT
. The implementation of a District Clinic to overcome the shortage of general practitioners in the Basso Vicentino area. INTRODUCTION: The demographic and epidemiological changes of Western societies lead to the implementation of new organizational models based on prevention and health promotion interventions mainly oriented to chronic patients. This approach promotes people's living places as the privileged place of care. AIM: To guarantee, in a rural area, the care of patients without a general practitioner, through the activation of the Primary Care District Clinic. METHODS: After having mapped the main chronic health problems of the catchment area, an outpatient care service based on an integrated medical-nursing approach was implemented. The Family and Community Nurse was responsible for the stratification of subgroups of patient according to their health problem, ensuring an integrated care of patients with chronic diseases or frail conditions, by education and symptoms monitoring. A convenience sample of 100 patients was selected, to analyze the degree of satisfaction with the care offered, by administering a questionnaire. RESULTS: Six months after its implementation, 4,000 patients accessed to the District Clinic. Those who answered the questionnaire declared high levels of satisfaction for the care received. The main needs were requests for repeated prescriptions and prescriptions for specialist examinations or visits for acute symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The implemented model is promising, the patients were satisfied with the care received but would prefer to have contacts with the same nurse over time.