Abstract

A proposal to improve the response capacity of the health system is the implementation of Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) in primary health care (PHC) in Chile. Today human health resources are overwhelmed to cope with aging and chronic disease burden of the population. On the other hand, the supply of nurses has increased, as well as training in quality and skills. This fact shows that the international experience of incorporating highly trained nurses can help solve health problems in primary care in Chile. This cost-effective model aims to expand the field of action of the nurse so that, through the direct attention of patients and families in a community setting, it can perform health provision that incorporate health promotion and prevention while treating low complexity pathologies. It is intended to open the discussion towards the regulations that involve a change like this and the education of the APN in the universities.