More Doctors Program: mapping and analysis of academic production in the period 2013-2016 in Brazil

ABSTRACT

With the purpose of strengthening Primary Health Care (PHC) in Brazil, the More Doctors Program (PMM) was created in 2013, structured around three strategic axes. This study aimed to analyze the scientific production in the PMM, identifying the relevance of the studies and their effects to the policy and elaborating a synthesis of the main themes. The search was carried out in the Regional Portal of the Virtual Health Library (VHL) and in the Knowledge Platform of the PMM, with 409 documents being identified. After exclusion criteria, 47 scientific articles were selected. The results showed that 55% of studies focused on the 'emergency doctors provision' axis, 32% presented general policy assessments, 4% focused on provision/infrastructure and only 9% focused on training. Of the articles selected, 22 were considered of high and medium relevance. Furthermore, 32 publications identified the effects of the PMM (29 identified positive effects; and, in only 3, positive and negative effects were equivalent). In the thematic analysis, the following stand out: equity, efficacy, professional training, PMM implementation, work practices and processes, media approach and PMM political analysis. Of an extensive nature, the analyzes pointed out clues about the directionality of the Program, its weaknesses and needs that are required for a research agenda for the coming years.

KEYWORDS
More Doctors Program; Primary Health Care; Health evaluation; Health programs and plans; Brazil