Complementary and alternative medicine in Primary Health Care: professionals' perceptions about the provision of services in the metropolitan region of Goiania, Brazil

Abstract

Although public policies in force at the federal and state levels establish Integrative and Complementary Practices in the list of services offered in Primary Health Care, we still do not know how they are implemented in the metropolitan region of Goiania. In this sense, this study aims to understand the perceptions of health professionals who offer Integrative and Complementary Practices on the use of these Primary Health Care services in the metropolitan region of Goiania. This is a descriptive, exploratory study with a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 professionals and then transcribed and treated with thematic content analysis. We understand that the offer of Integrative and Complementary Practices depends on professionals, who have suffered from the lack of support from the management and the disarticulation of their work with the team, as well as the absence of adequate infrastructure and non-standardization of registration in the users' medical records. We conclude that the offer of Integrative and Complementary Practices has suffered the consequences of a partial and precarious integration in Primary Health Care.