[Patient follow up and monitoring: some notes of interest]

The monitoring or follow-up of a person subjected to a health care intervention is a daily routine nursing activity. In the chronic patient the monitoring or follow-up is a core activity and forms a part of the ritual in the periodic visits. In spite of the high percentage workload and use of resources that patient follow up represents within the health system, it is a poorly investigated area. In the present article we examine the differences between a test versus a monitoring strategy, the conditions that justify the monitoring, the methodology to evaluate a follow-up strategy,, as well as creating initiatives to improve monitoring (MaDOx) worldwide.