Evaluation of primary health care attributes in Chapecó, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Vitoria, Angela Moreira
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Harzheim, Erno, Takeda, Silvia Pasa, Hauser, Lisiane
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Medicina de Família e Comunidade (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://www.rbmfc.org.br/rbmfc/article/view/832
• topic: Primary Health Care; Health Services Research; Family Health Strategy; Atención Primaria de Salud; Investigación sobre Servicios de Salud; Estrategia Salud de la Familia; Atenção Primária à Saúde; Pesquisa sobre Serviços de Saúde; Estratégia Saúde da Família; Atenção Primária à Saúde

Objective: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the adequacy of the structure and processes of primary health care (PHC) in a midsize city in southern Brazil. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the structure and processes of PHC. The structure was evaluated, based on the guidelines of the Ministry of Health, by interviewing 24 coordinators of Primary Healthcare Units (PHU); and the processes of care were assessed, based on PHC attributes measured by the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCATool-Brazil), by interviewing 98 professional doctors and nurses. Results: We observed inadequacies regarding the high number of inhabitants attended per health team, the low offer of medical consultations, low vocational training for PHC, and lack of systematic evaluation of actions. Likewise, the processes were considered satisfactory regarding some PHC attributes and unsatisfactory in relation to first-contact access (score: 3.6) and longitudinality (score: 6.0). Conclusion: The adequacy of the health system in Chapecó would imply increasing the number of medical consultations/year by 56 thousand, building two new PHUs, stimulating vocational training for PHC, and encouraging the systematic evaluation of actions.