The objective of this study was to evaluate the applicability of Coelho's scale (CS) and to determine its adaptation to the reality observed in the families accompanied in the Maria Rangel Passos health care unit (USFMRP) in the city of Vitória, Espírito Santo State. This is a cross-sectional exploratory, descriptive study developed in the area of health of Greater Maruípe. First, it was made the classification of the families according to CS and the results were presented for a discussion group that proposed changes and possible alterations in CS, being the new tool denominated as "UFES criterium". In order to verify the applicability of that instrument and to accomplish a comparison with the obtained results of the classification for CS, thirty families assisted in USFMRP were randomly selected and visited, including by the HCA. This new scale allowed to identify a larger number of families of minimum risk and to guide the several actions accomplished daily in a health care unit, aiming to define priorities and to reorient the practices exercised by the professionals heading for the consolidation of a more even and integral attendance, centered in the service of the real social needs in health of the families assisted in the extent of the Family Health Strategy (FHS).
Family Health Strategy; Coelho scale; Work process
