ABSTRACT:
Introduction:
Primary health care must assume the centrality of care so that health systems address and solve the health needs of the population.
Objective:
To evaluate the quality of primary health care from the perspective of health professionals, including those associated with the Mais Médicos Brasil Program, verifying associations between quality of services and professional qualification.
Methodology:
A cross-sectional study where interviews with health professionals were carried out. The quality of care was measured by means of interviews about the experience of doctors and nurses with the services, using the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCATool-Brasil). The presence and the extension of the primary health care attributes of the Southwest II region of Goiás state, constituted by 10 municipalities, were investigated.
Results:
The lowest APS Overall Score was for the first contact access attribute (3.71). The bivariate analysis showed statistical difference between the variables profession and the essential, derived and general scores. Doctors of the More Doctors Program had higher average scores (7,68 essential; 9,11 derivative; 8,04 general) when compared to other medical professionals and nurses.
Conclusions:
The findings highlight the importance of permanent evaluation of health services, especially primary care, due to its importance and centrality to the organization of other levels of care. Only from this monitoring is possible a better management orientation for strategic and resolutive investments.
Keywords:
Health evaluation; Primary health care; Health consortia