Avaliação da qualidade do cuidado a idosos nos serviços da rede pública de atenção primária à saúde de Porto Alegre, Brasil

Abstract

Introduction: The aging population creates a greater demand creates a greater demand for health services and becomes a challenge for the health care system. Primary Health Care (PHC) plays a fundamental role in promoting healthy aging and controlling multi-morbidity. Objective: To assess the quality of care provided to elderly patients in public PHC in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. Methods: A cross-sectional population-based study carried out in 2007, with interviews conducted with 212 elderly patients from four types of municipal public services: Primary Health Centers, Family Health Strategy teams, the “Conceição” Hospital Community Health Service (CH/CHS), and the “Murialdo” School Health Center. Results: There were significant differences between the centers investigated regarding the following attributes: Access-utilization, Longitudinality, Care coordination and information systems, and Family and community orientation. The CH/CHS showed prevalence of 55.8% (p<0.001) for the overall PHC high score - higher figures in comparison with the other services. The overall score of preventive practices showed a significant association with the services to the overall PHC score, with an average of 3.9 (CI 95%=3.60-4.32) among the elderly who presented low scores and 5.9 (CI 95%=5.3-6.5) among those presenting high scores. Discussion: The results show low scores in all types of services. The services with a high overall PHC score present higher preventive practice prevalence. Conclusions: PHC-oriented services are more effective and offer greater quality of preventive care recommended for the elderly.