PRIMARY HEALTH CARE FROM THE PROFESSIONALS PERSPECTIVE: COMPARING TRADITIONAL HEALTH CARE UNITS TO UNITS WITH FAMILY HEALTH CARE STRATEGY

Introduction: Primary Health Care (PHC) is defined as the first level of entry (access to first contact in the system), being characterized principally, by continuity, holistic care and coordination of assistance within the health care system. PHC also relies on complementary characteristics like Family and Community orientation and social competency. Using the theoretical concepts of PHC, attributes and characteristics considered necessary to PHC, Starfield (2009) developed an instrument to collect and analyze the information relative to the care received and provided by the PHC, known as PCA Tool- Primary Care Assessment Tool which tries to measure the presence and extension of the 4 attributes considered essentials and of the 3 attributes considered as derived from PHC. Objective: Compare the presence and extension of the attributes of PHC in Traditional Health Care Units and Units using the Family Health Care Strategy. Method: All physicians, nurses and dental surgeons hired by the Santa Marcelina PHC who are working in Health Care Units localized in the East Zone of the city of SP were invited to participate of the survey. All the data was collected through the PCATool. Results: The results indicate a better performance (statistically significant) in the Units that work with the Family Health Care Strategy in relation to the attributes of continuity (p=0,0330), holistic care (given services)(p=0,0011), community orientation (p=0,0017), as well as for the general score (p=0,0098). Conclusion: The Family Health Strategy presents a better performance when units with and without the Strategy are compared, using the PCA Tool.