[Model of care for the treatment of patients with osteoarthritis from the first to the third level].

Introduction: Osteoarthritis in Mexico is one of the ten most frequent causes of disability. Early diagnosis and detection of risk factors are determinant for treatment. The institutional organization establishes therapeutic guidelines according to each level of care, but effective management is not achieved.

Material and methods: A prospective, pilot, interventional, clinical study was conducted, which included patients diagnosed with different degrees of knee osteoarthritis in the first, second and third level of care, with an integrative model that includes a group of professionals for the intervention of nutritional, physiotherapeutic, social and psychological evaluation from the first level.

Results: The intervention of a multidisciplinary care group allows a correct evaluation and assignment of the level of care, optimizing human and material resources. The participation of different disciplines in nutrition, psychology, social work, physiotherapy and rehabilitation modifies the global lifestyle by involving the patients themselves in their treatment. The intervention group had improvements in the visual analog pain scale, mobility arcs, low body mass index and improvement in the psychological aspect.

Conclusions: The proposed model of care demonstrates that implementation in the institution and in each clinical care unit should be considered to improve outcomes.