Cirugía y traumatología bucomáxilofacial en la red hospitalaria chilena / Maxilofacial surgery in the Chilean healthcare network

RESUMEN: Argumentando la existencia de listas de espera de cirugía bucal y máxilofacial, los Ministerios de Salud y Educación chilenos deciden crear un profesional de menores competencias que el cirujano bucal y máxilofacial existente, cuya formación dure un año y se desempeñe en la atención primaria de salud. Decretan la especialidad de Cirugía Bucal, comprometiendo la calidad y seguridad de la atención, exponiendo a los enfermos a eventos adversos de impredecibles desenlaces, afectando la calidad de vida de éstos o provocando eventualmente un desenlace fatal. El objetivo del presente estudio es establecer el número de cirujanos bucales y máxilofaciales formados en el país, conocer cuantos se desempeñan en hospitales públicos y su distribución en los servicios de salud, así como también evaluar si se cumplen las condiciones de infraestructura necesarias para desarrollar la especialidad según la normativa vigente. Consideramos que éstos son datos fundamentales al momento de modificar políticas públicas. La metodología propuesta es un estudio descriptivo de corte transversal, realizando una encuesta dirigida a los jefes de los servicios odontológicos de la red hospitalaria pública del país, destinada a obtener información del prestador individual e institucional en cada centro de la red. Se concluye que existe una cantidad suficiente de especialistas formados y en vías de formación para atender las necesidades de la población. La evidencia muestra que faltan cargos e infraestructura, por lo que la medida adoptada por el MINSAL respecto a la creación de la especialidad de Cirugía Bucal obedece a un error diagnóstico desde el punto de vista del prestador individual e institucional, originado por la ausencia de un estudio técnico que evalúe la red hospitalaria del país.

ABSTRACT: Arguing the existence of waiting lists in oral and maxillofacial surgery, the chilean Ministries of Health and Education decided to create a professional less skilled than the existing oral and maxilofacial surgeon, whose training lasts one year and works in primary care health. They established the specialty of Oral Surgery, compromising the quality and safety of care, exposing patients to adverse events with unpredictable outcomes, affecting their quality of life or eventually causing a fatal outcome. At the time of this study there is no record of the number of oral and maxillofacial surgeons trained in our country, it is unknown how many are working in public hospitals and their distribution in health services, as well as whether there is the necessary infrastructure to develop the specialty under current regulations. We made a descriptive transversal study, conducting an interview aimed to obtain information from individual and institutional providers to know the reality of the specialty in the public health network. It is concluded that there is a sufficient number of specialists trained and in training to meet the needs of the population. The evidence shows missing possitions and infrastructure, so that the action taken by the Health Ministry regarding the creation of the specialty of Oral Surgery is due to a misdiagnosis from the point of view of an individual and institutional provider, caused by the absence of a technical study to assess the country’s hospital network.

Telemedicine network Program for reperfusion of Myocardial infarction / Programa en red para la reperfusión del infarto con telemedicina

background: Early management of myocardial infarction in the area of public health requires the integration of specific programs for the coordination of healthcare services. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact on delay times and reperfusion rate of a comprehensive program for the reperfusion of myocardial infarction in a hospital network of the Southern Greater Buenos Aires. Methods: The network consists of six low-mid-complexity hospitals and a third-level referral center with 24-hour cath-lab. Stage 1 of the program (2009-2010) evaluated the existing barriers to reperfusion; Stage 2 (2011-2013) implemented the progressive incorpora-tion of improvements and Stage 3 assessed the program (2013-2014) complemented with fellows in each hospital. Program impact was evaluated by the proportion of patients reperfused and time to its implementation. results: A total of 432 patients referred from the network were hospitalized with diagnosis of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. Mean age was 56±9 years and 83.3% were men. The proportion of reperfused patients progressively increased: S1 60.7%, S2 69% and S3 78%, p for trend=0.01. Time to reperfusion decreased significantly between S1 and S3, from 120 minutes (IQR 55-240) to 90 minutes (IQR 35-150), p=0.04, with a median reduction of 30 minutes in the door-to-balloon and door-to-needle times. Conclusions: The application of a program for myocardial reperfusion based on the diagnosis of barriers was associated with 28.5% increase in reperfusion, and a significant reduction in the implementation times. This public network model built on algorithms adapted to local barriers may contribute to improve the care of myocardial infarction in our country.