Comparison between the health care in Health Basic Units and Family Health Units in Marilia municipality from the users' and health professionals' perspective

• Grant number: 10/07926-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2010
• End date: July 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Maria José Sanches Marin
• Grantee: Maria José Sanches Marin
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Marília (FAMEMA). Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Econômico (São Paulo - Estado). Marília , SP, Brazil

Abstract

For the Unified Health System, the health-disease process results from several factors and basic care is considered to be a privileged space to develop multifarious actions (?). Therefore some strategies have been proposed such as the Family Health Strategy specially. It is a type of health care characterized by innovative principles such as an emphasis on links (vago), protection and multifarious actions. Nevertheless the implementation of this specific care has gradually occurred and in many Brazilian municipalities traditional Health Basic Units (HBUs) and Family Health Units (FHUs) coexist. There are challenges to be met. One should ask how Family Health Units contribute to meet the population's real necessities and build a new concept of health care. This study aims at analyzing the HBUs and FHUs strengths and limitations, their similarities and differences from the users' and health professionals' perspective. This research will use quantitative and qualitative approaches and compare data in a triangle pattern. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews will be presented to users and health professionals who work in the health basic care teams in Marilia municipality where there are 12 HBUs and 29 FHUs. The authors expect this study to help managing health basic care services in the area as well as providing a complementation and a comparison between these data and those produced by other similar studies carried out in other scenarios. (AU)