• Jonathan Troncoso, Cristian González, Francisca Mena, Angélica Valencia, Paulina Cuevas, and Juan Pablo Rubio.
• Unidad de Cuidados Paliativos, Hospital Clínico Metropolitano La Florida, Dra. Eloísa Díaz Insunza, Región Metropolitana, Chile. Electronic address: jstroncoso@uc.cl.
• Aten Primaria. 2021 Dec 1; 53 (10): 102159.

ObjectiveCharacterize the current situation of the demand manager physician (DMP) in primary health care (PHC), from the perceptions of those who fulfill this role, their medical peers and the directors of the family health centers (CESFAMs).DesignQualitative cross-sectional study with a grounded theory approach. SITE: Four CESFAMs from the South East Metropolitan Health Service in Santiago, Chile.ParticipantsDemand manager physician, general practitioners and directors of CESFAM.MethodA semi-structured interview and discussion group were used as data collection technique. Open, axial, and selective coding was carried out with the support of the NVivo12 software.ResultsIn practice, DMP performs more functions than those defined for the position by the Ministry of Health, generating the feeling of lack of time to carry out their work, what represents their main barrier at work and reflects the absence of institutional support they receive from their employees. Among these invisible functions are: providing feedback to the medical team, leading clinical meetings, and generating reference protocols. For the good performance of the DMP it is necessary to have technical skills and be recognized by their peers. It was estimated that the family doctor is the most suitable professional for the position. The work of the DMP is limited by institutional factors such as waiting lists, lack of specialists, and poor coordination between levels of care.ConclusionsStandardizing the functions of the DMP is a necessary element for its consolidation and achieving the objectives of maintaining continuity of care in the population.Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

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