Referral and counter-referral for the integrality of care in the health care network

Abstract

The objective was to analyze the functioning of the referral and counter-referral system for integral care in the Healthcare Network. Qualitative study performed through interviews with 66 participants – managers, workers and users of a town of the state of Bahia, Brazil, and upon approval by the Ethics Committee, opinion number nº 334.737. The material was analyzed using the Content Analysis proposed by Bardin, finished in 2014. Various conceptions of referral and counter-referral were identified, as follows: referral of users, user’s broader view; non-fragmented care; and integral care. For the users, the difficulties and facilities in the f lows are concentrated in the Regulation and Scheduling Center and Family Health Units. It is concluded that, to enable the establishment of the network in an integral way, it is necessary to identify important strategies provided by the Unified Health System (SUS) and strengthen these strategies, as well as to identify any drawbacks to remedy them.