Atenção Primária à Saúde e tuberculose: Avaliação dos serviços

Abstract

Introduction: In order to control tuberculosis, the Brazilian Ministry of Health recommends the decentralization of control actions directed to the Primary Health Care, and there are few studies on the performance of the Tuberculosis Control Program in decentralized contexts. Objective: To evaluate the performance of Primary Health Care services in tuberculosis treatment. Methods: This is an evaluative study with cross-sectional approach conducted in 2011. Two hundred and thirty-nine health professionals from Primary Health Care units were interviewed using a structured instrument based on the evaluation reference of the health services quality (structure-process-results). The performance of these services was analyzed applying techniques of descriptive statistics, validation, and construction of indicators and by determining the reduced variable “Z”. Results: The indicators “participation of professionals in tuberculosis patients’ care” (structure) and “reference and counterreference” (process) had the best evaluations, whereas “professional training” (structure) and “external actions for tuberculosis control” (process) had the worst results. Conclusion: The decentralization of tuberculosis control actions has been taking place in a vertical manner in Primary Health Care. The challenge of controlling tuberculosis involves overcoming constraints related to the engagement, training, and turnover rates among health professionals, which is a coordination between services and monitoring of control actions in Primary Health Care.