From outpatient assistant to a “modern and scientific” organization. Dispensaries during the first decades of the 20th century in Chile

Abstract

Dispensaries operated in Chile since the 19th century as places for outpatient care and medication delivery. At the turn of the century, in the context mounting social problems and worsening public health, it became necessary to transform these establishments into “modern” and “scientific” ones. This meant integrating hygiene and prevention education into their functions, along with an organization geared toward medical specialization, with the aim of treating a greater number of patients with the most wide range of diseases, mainly those of a contagious