Community Vulnerability: Measuring the Health Situation of a Population After COVID-19 Through Electronic Health...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic made people face the fact that we are all vulnerable. This vulnerability can be measured through the Basic Variables of Care (BVC) using the Care Vulnerability Index (CVI). Health systems work with indicators that nurses can consult to understand the care and health situation of their population. These indicators provide valuable information on the vulnerability of the population. Objective: to determine the level of community vulnerability of a population group using health indicators from the computerized clinical records of Primary Care. Methods: observational, retrospective study from March 2023 to January 2024, with a sample of 2106 people assigned to a nurse at the Meco Health Centre (Madrid, Spain). Phases: selection of dashboard indicators, linkage to BVC, score assignment, population adjustment and calculation of the CVI. Results: The sample of indicators selects 18 out of 376 included in the Specific Dashboard; each indicator is related to 6 to 10 BCVs, with different rank values. Each score is adjusted by a Vulnerability Correction Factor according to the number of people included in the indicator. Finally, the population-adjusted CVI scores 1.95 points (percentile 37.90). Conclusions: community vulnerability is an essential tool in community health diagnostics and can be measured through health indicators that reflect the care situation of a population group at a given time, including changes in the situation in the face of health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.