HOBE+, a case study: a virtual community of practice to support innovation in primary care in Basque Public Health Service.

Background: A virtual professional community of practice (VCoP), HOBE+, has been set up to foster and facilitate innovation in primary care. It is aimed at all primary care professionals of the Basque Public Health Service (Osakidetza) in the provinces of Biscay and Araba. HOBE + is a VCoP that incorporates innovation management from the generation of ideas to their implementation in primary care practice.

[Panorama of self-management initiatives in Spain].

Objective: To describe the current situation of self-management initiatives in Spain.

Methods: We performed a descriptive study of self-management support initiatives in Spain from the perspective of the patient as expert. Three databases were searched in October 2010 (Pubmed, Scientific Electronic Library Online [SCIELO] and Indice Médico Español [IME]), using the following Keywords «paciente experto» (expert patient), «paciente activo» (active patient) and «apoyo al autocuidado» (self-management support).