Estratégia de Saúde da Família em Uberlândia: avaliação segundo a visão de diferentes atores

Abstract

Brazil has been through important advances concerning the access to Primary Health Care (APS) services to its population. Many of these advances are due to Family Health Strategy (ESF), adopted by National Policy of Basic Attention as the structuring strategy of this attention. In Uberlândia, 23% of the population is registered by ESF teams, a low rate according to the Ministry of Health. Nevertheless, the whole population has access to PHC, either on PHC clinic units (UAPS) or on ambulatories of Integrated Treatment Units (UAI), and also on Primary Care units of Family Health (UAPSF). This research aims to analyze the health attention assistance model adopted in Uberlandia since the insertion of ESF, targeting health care management, integration to services network and intersectoral actions, from the perspective of registered families, professionals from family health teams and managers from this specific area. To achieve those objectives, many methodological procedures were used: theoretical research concerning subjects such as APS, ESF and also the concepts of space, territory and network. The information and data about APS and ESF were collected in many government entities, specifically in Ministry of Health and into Health Information and Planning Manegement in Uberlandia. Structured interviews were done with the registered families, semi-structured interviews also were filled by managers and we have submitted surveys to four professionals categories from the teams: doctors, nurses, nursing technician/assistants and community health agents. Thus, we have verified that, in order to warrant Family Health Strategy consolidation in Uberlandia and to improve the quality of health attention, it is needed to reconsider the volume of population served per team, as well as the flow of patients among the several levels, to improve infrastructure and technological resources and to advance into the health care management and intersectoriality. Nevertheless, it is also needed to invest in Human Resources, hiring more professionals and reflecting about their formation so that they can present the appropriate profile to the ESF model.