Assessment of primary health care: health professionals’ perspective

Abstract

Objective To assess primary health care attributes of access to a first contact, comprehensiveness, coordination, continuity, family guidance and community orientation. Method An evaluative, quantitative and cross-sectional study with 35 professional teams in the Family Health Program of the Alfenas region, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Data collection was done with the Primary Care Assessment Tool - Brazil, professional version. Results Results revealed a low percentage of medical experts among the participants who evaluated the attributes with high scores, with the exception of access to a first contact. Data analysis revealed needs for improvement: hours of service; forms of communication between clients and healthcare services and between clients and professionals; the mechanism of counter-referral. Conclusion It was concluded that there is a mismatch between the provision of services and the needs of the population, which compromises the quality of primary health care.

Opportunistic screening actions for breast cancer performed by nurses working in primary health care

“…In addition, primary care is a good place to conduct educational activities (8) . Health care professionals working in primary care have a key role in developing these actions, especially nurses, who are the primary interface between health care staff and services users (9)(10) .…”

Managerial nursing competencies in the expansion of the Family Health Strategy

“…Thus, it is necessary to improve the organization of health services due to the poor communication between professionals of different levels of care, considering the fragmentation of care provided by each one (19) . The managerial competence encouraging and promoting innovation relates to Class 4, called innovation in medical and nursing consultations, which the relevant elements of the valorization of nursing, general medical and shared doctor and nurse consultations.…”

Avaliação Da Coordenação Da Atenção Na Perspectiva Dos Profissionais De Saúde

“…No que concerne ao encaminhamento dos pacientes, foi quase unânime a avaliação positiva dos profissionais que relatam o envio de informações sobre a situação do paciente, corroborando com outros estudos realizados nos quais as avaliações pelos profissionais também foram positivas (11,12) . Porém, em estudo anterior, é apontado que Brasília é uma das cidades que apresenta maior dificuldade para o agendamento de serviços de média complexidade e que, mesmo com a existência dos formulários para registro, não são utilizados pelos profissionais (13) .…”

“…Com isso, a contrarreferência fica fragilizada, sendo avaliada pelos participantes do estudo negativamente, confirmado por outros estudos com resultados similares (11,12) . As equipes têm restrições para coordenar o cuidado em virtude dos problemas com os fluxos comunicacionais entre os diferentes pontos da rede, admitindo que há fragmentação da rede (5) .…”

“…Na verdade, a informação é a essência da coordenação da atenção, necessitando que todos os profissionais de saúde envolvidos no cuidado registrem de forma consistente os serviços prestados para que todos possam ter acesso e compreender as informações disponibilizadas (14) . (11,12) .…”