Implications of primary health care models in workloads of health professionals

Abstract

This study discusses the influence of two health care models on the workloads of health professionals. This qualitative study was conducted with Family Health teams and traditional teams working in southern Brazil. Focus groups, interviews, and documentary study were used to obtain data, which were analyzed combining Thematic Content Analysis with the features of the AtlasTi software. In both models, it was evident that the problems in the organization and management of health care, excessive demand and ineffective problem-solving are the main sources of increased workloads while affinity with the health care model and teamwork were mentioned as sources of workloads reduction. We conclude that the increase in workloads in Family Health model was affected by gaps between what was prescribed and performed, while in the traditional model this was due to fact that the health care model is based on biomedicine.