How data provided by the Brazilian information system of primary care have been used by researchers

Abstract

In this article, we have investigated how researchers use the data provided by the Brazilian Information System of Primary Care . We also searched, for the first time, studies that evaluated the quality and reliability of the information provided by the Primary Care Information System. An integrative review of the literature was performed using the keywords ‘information systems, primary care and SIAB’ on search databases, and 53 of 174 articles were selected. These publications were classified into two large subgroups: those using the Primary Care Information System as ‘data source’ and those that took it as the ‘object of study’. The first group included 35 studies, 18 of which used demographic and social health data records, and nine described data about diseases, specifically hypertension and diabetes. These data were used by researchers for association with health indicators (20%) or comparison with other information systems (17%), sample or population calculus (9%), estimation of prevalence and characterization of the epidemiological profile of a population (26%) or, more generally, to carry out the assessment of health status (29%). The Primary Care Information System as the ‘object of study’ group included 18 works, describing the knowledge and practices of professionals in relation to the information system. These researchers pointed out issues in the process of production and information consolidation, mainly due to the lack of training and supervision of community health workers and bureaucratization of their work process. Although some issues in the quality of data provided by the Primary Care Information System were reported by researchers, these findings were not corroborated by two studies that assessed the reliability of information disclosed by this system. Despite changes in the Brazilian health policies, the issue of data quality in health information systems continues to be a challenge preventing data from being used for decision-making and knowledge production.

Record linkage under suboptimal conditions for data-intensive evaluation of primary care in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…The Electronic Medical Registry (EMR) was implemented to be the main clinical, administrative and epidemiological data management tool of primary care. It was designed to allow integration with the Brazilian Primary Care Information System (SIAB—Sistema de Informação da Atenção Básica), nowadays replaced by the e-SUS [ 13 , 14 ]. The Family Health Registry (FHR) is part of the SIAB.…”

Measurements of Surgical Volume in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, a Systematic Review

“…The present means of obtaining case logs, which is intrinsically important for calculating surgical volume, is quite tedious. Although the LCoGS provided a valid rationale for the need to track surgical volume, there has been poor documentation, an absence of standardization, and difficult data collection and management, which makes it difficult to assess these metrics [34].…”

Diagnosis of mucosal changes and hospitalized oral cancer patients in Brazil: influence of socioeconomic factors

“…21 This scenario can lead to inefficient registration, even though this source of data is still reliable for monitoring Brazilian public health services. 22 To our knowledge, data for the diagnosis of oral mucosal changes have not been used before for discussing the access of a population to oral cancer preliminary diagnosis. Data from this study suggest that more unequal and more developed cities may also have a greater number of records of diagnoses of oral mucosal changes.…”