Evaluation of the attributes first contact access and longitudinality in Primary Health Care

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate, from the professionals' perspective, the attributes of First Contact access and Longitudinality of care in primary health care in Sinop, Mato Grosso. This is a quantitative, observational, cross-sectional research carried out with 32 doctors, 32 nurses and 27 dentists. Data were collected using a sociodemographic questionnaire and the primary care assessment instrument (PCATool). First contact access was assessed by 9 questions and longitudinality by 13 questions. Score values were standardized to a scale ranging from 0 to 10, with values ≥ 6.6 being classified as overwhelming.  The best evaluation was the longitudinality attribute with an average score of 6.8, the first contact access attribute presented a worse evaluation, with an average score of 4.4, with no statistically significant differences between professionals (p>0.05). Therefore, it is concluded that there is a need to compensate for such practices and promote a context that allows changes in the current context, barriers to access and comfort in continuous care.