Avaliação dos atributos da Atenção Primária à Saúde na perspectiva dos profissionais de saúde de Sobral, Ceará.

Abstract

Primary Health Care (PHC) is considered a strategy for organization and reorganization of the health systems, in addition to promoting changes in professional practices. It is advised by structuring axes called essential attributes: attention to first contact, longitudinality, integrality and coordination; and derived attributes: family and community orientation and cultural competence. This paper aimed to evaluate the quality of Primary Health Care from the professionals` perspective in the city of Sobral, Ceará. It sorts an evaluative research out, with a quantitative approach, cross-sectional design, carried out with 238 professionals from the Family Health Strategy. Data were collected through interviews using a structured sociodemographic questionnaire and the PCATool – Professional Version instrument. The PHC attributes were calculated using the average scores obtained, with the scores classified as high (≥ 6.6) and low (<6.6). The data were analyzed using the SPSS 27.0 program, from the Kruskal Wallis test, Mann-Whitney and Chi-square, considering a significance level of 5%. The professionals assessed the quality of PHC as satisfactory, considering the General Score. Despite the positive evaluation, the attribute First contact access (Accessibility) was the only attribute evaluated unsatisfactory, while the integrality attribute (services available) was the best evaluated among the essential attributes. Among the derived attributes, also evaluated positively, the Community Orientation attribute was the best evaluated. Given the findings of this study, despite the positive evaluation of PHC, challenges remain to be faced, mainly in relation to guaranteeing user access to the service. Therefore, it is suggested that management strategies be implemented in order to improve the quality and performance of health services and minimize this challenge. Among the derived attributes, also evaluated positively, the Community Orientation attribute was the best evaluated. Given the findings of this study, despite the positive evaluation of PHC, challenges remain to be faced, mainly in relation to guaranteeing user access to the service. Therefore, it is suggested that management strategies be implemented in order to improve the quality and performance of health services and minimize this challenge.