Las redes sociales del Centro de Salud San Pablo de Zaragoza

OBJECTIVE: To examine what are and how the social networks are formed, not only for professional relationships, but also for personal ones, between the members of the staff of a primary care centre.

DESIGN: Study based on the Social Network Theory and Analysis.

SETTING: A primary care centre in the city of Zaragoza (Spain).

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 41 permanent members of staff (33 women and 8 men) from the different professions working in the health centre.

METHOD: Data was collected from a questionnaire of two network-generating questions, based on social networks analysis theory.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The network of professional relationships network is denser than friendship one and also has more interactions between the different professional groups than in the second one. Furthermore, length of service in the centre is a key factor to understanding how it works. The official organisational chart flowchart is not followed exactly, as the routine nature of professional relationships confers a central role to persons who do not occupy positions of responsibility. As far as the network of friendship relationships is concerned, this is basically constructed around having similar work positions. Finally, we have stated that the length of service plays a key role in both networks (professional and friendship) and may explain an important part of the social interactions that take place in the centre studied.