ACADEMIC NETWORK RELATED TO HEALTH DECISION MAKING. ACADEMIC HEALTH DECISION SUPPORT NETWORK

Abstract

The School of Nursing at the Catholic University of Chile (PUC) has been implementing, since 1983 a health care model based on selfcare. (Lange I., Jaimovich S.1996). This work has been enriched with the Ottawa Health Decision Support framework developed in the nineties, in Canada, by O’Connor, A. et al. With the support of the Canadian team and the financial support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) the project “Making Choices, Making Decisions: A Client/Provider Partnership in Canadian/Chilean Technology Transfer” (DECIDE) was carried out in Chile between 1999 and 2003. The dissemination phase of this project included collaboration with other schools of nursing to promote the incorporation of the Ottawa Decision Support Framework and tool kits for decision support into the nursing curriculum. This experience generated a networking model among the Schools, which enriched and strengthened the DECIDE project, regarding identity, pace and particular interests of each participating institution. As a result of this networking experience, a continuing education program was developed to improve the decision support skills of health professionals to improve the decision making abilities of their clients. This “semi presential” continuing education program will be useful to train health professionals in other Latin American countries as it incorporates distance learning methodologies. This article describes the networking process among 6 schools of nursing of different regions of Chile and the lessons learned. It demonstrates that networking is an efficient and feasible strategy to strengthen and potentialize nursing development.