Management of primary health care centers: an integrative review

Abstract

The objective was to identify the results of research on the management of primary health care centers in the scientific literature, from 2015 to 2020. It is an Integrative Review in the Biblioteca Virtual de Salud, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases, with the descriptors: Health Management, Health Services Administration and Primary Health Care. Papers that deal with the objective of this research and that were published from 2015 to 2020, in any language, were included. The Content Analysis technique was used to collect and analyze the material. 36 articles make up the corpus of work. Seven categories were constructed: characterization of the professionals, work planning, change management, performance-based management, institutional democracy, participation and social control, and training. It is concluded that the selected literature indicates that those responsible for the management of these health centers have low technical qualifications. This is compounded by the growing influence of the market and the business management model on the administration of these services, in addition to public sector contracts with private providers that pose challenges to social participation and to meeting local health needs.