[The odysseys of Ulysses. A study of tales in a normal working day of the family doctor in Paraguay, Mexico, Peru, and Spain]. / Las odiseas de los Ulises. Estudio de los relatos de un día normal de trabajo del médico de familia en Paraguay, México, Perú y España.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the professional profile of the family doctor in different countries and the social welfare context where their work is carried out. DESIGN: Qualitative Methodology of production of field diaries of a normal day. LOCATION: Primary Heath Care of Toledo and Tenerife in Spain, and Paraguay, Mexico, and Peru. PARTICIPANTS AND CONTEXTS: Non-random sampling, intentional, followed by snowball sample until data saturation. METHOD: Participants wrote a diary of a typical day's work, their circumstances and socio-health context, and were studied by content analysis. Techniques to control the biases were used the check the participants and the triangulation between the obtained results and the existing bibliography, and data found on the Internet daily. We performed a mental map to transcribe the results graphically and in a comprehensive form. RESULTS: A total of 24 diaries of a normal day were obtained (9 doctors in Spain, 7 in Mexico, 4 in Paraguay, and 4 in Peru). We found some similarities, but many differences between countries. In contexts of humble but spirited, rural, with traditional roots and undemanding, there was a wider range of tasks of the family doctor, the coexistence of public and private work, and modern and traditional medicine, with greater presence of family and community care, more physician satisfaction and better patient-physician relationship. CONCLUSIONS: The professional profile of the family doctor is diverse and a context-dependent variable, and is not derived directly from external theory of family medicine.