Involvement of the Primary Healthcare professionals in the Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme of the Basque Country

Background: The Basque Government (Spain) approved a population based Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme in 2008 with its base on Primary Healthcare. Since then, a coverage of 100% of the population and an average participation rate of 68.4% have been achieved. General Practitioners and nurses play a central role on its implementation. The aim of this work was to describe the characteristics, involvement and attitudes of the health professionals that implement the programme. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in Primary Healthcare to general practitioners and nurses between May and June of 2016. An ad-hoc online questionnaire was designed. The data included sociodemoeraphic information and questions regarding their involvement on the programme. Results: 1.216 health professionals answered the questionnaire, 50.7% were general practitioners and 49.3% nurses. 78% of the responders were women. The 75.8% considered the programme very important although differences were found between general practitioners and nurses. The 89% of the professionals attended training and 34% scientific workshops about screening at least once. There were differences between general practitioners and nurses on the attendance to the training and importance they give to the programme, and on their participation on workshops. Conclusions: There is a high level of involvement of Primary Healthcare professionals in the programme as they consider it very important; this could be one of the keys for its success. The differences between professionals on their opinion and experience should be taken into account on its design. as they are the ones with a closer contact with the population.