Case management nurse in Spain: facing the challenge of chronicity through a comprehensive practice.

Abstract

A new type of nurse role was established in the Spanish health care system in the late 1990s, currently called case manager nurse, to ensure access to resources needed to cope with chronic conditions and comprehensive home care. This paper aims to present this figure and discuss aspects of its work. The methodology was based on the bibliographic review of papers and normative publications and interviews with primary health care nurses, nursing faculty, and case management nurses. We present a brief history of the implementation of the case manager nurse role and the conceptual and operational bases of her practice in three autonomous Spanish communities: Andalusia, Valencian Community, and Basque Country, discussing potentialities and issues concerning this practice. In the conclusions, we make some considerations on the possible implementation of the case manager nurse in the Brazilian health system.