Brazilian Primary Health Care strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic: A scoping review

Abstract

Primary Health Care is the gateway for users to access the Brazilian healthcare system and has been particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic demands. This review systematically identified and mapped evidence regarding novel or adapted strategies developed within PHC during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Our results are presented as a narrative synthesis following the JBI methodology. They were analyzed and discussed through the lens of the Health Work Process Theory, which allowed us to categorize the publications into two principal domains of strategies, managerial and clinical, encompassing strategies that were new, adapted, or maintained in healthcare services. Two hundred twenty-six interventions were identified (130 managerial and 96 clinical) from 49 studies. The new strategies appeared more frequently in both domains, while the maintained ones were less prevalent. The array of interventions highlights different care models, sometimes aligned with a biomedical approach. In contrast, others focus on comprehensiveness and longitudinality based on a person-centered care, in the family, and the community. Thus, this review identified that the same pre-pandemic challenges persist.