RESEARCH ARTICLE


Assessment of Primary Health Care in the Treatment of Tuberculosis in a Brazilian Locality of the International Triple Frontier



Reinaldo Antonio Silva-Sobrinho1, *, Anneliese Domingues Wysocki2, Lúcia Marina Scatena3, Erika Simone Galvão Pinto4, Aline Ale Beraldo5, Rubia Laine Paula Andrade5, Adriana Zilly1, Rosane Meire Munhak da Silva1, Michela Prestes Gomes5, Paulo César Morales Mayer1, Antonio Ruffino-Netto5, Tereza Cristina Scatena Villa5
1 Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil
2 Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul, Três Lagoas, Brazil
3 Universidade Federal do Triangulo Mineiro, Uberaba, Brazil
4 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
5 Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil


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Creative Commons License
© 2017 Silva-Sobrinho et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Correspondence: Address correspondence to this authors at the Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (UNIOESTE - State University of West of Paraná) Av. Tarquínio Joslin dos Santos, Brazil, 1300. Tel: +55(45) 3575-2733, Fax: +55(45) 3576 8185; E-mails: reisobrinho@unioeste.br; reisobrinho@yahoo.com.br


Abstract

Objective:

To evaluate the performance of Primary Health Care (PHC) in treatment of TB patients in a triple international border municipality.

Methods:

The present study was an evaluative survey of cross-sectional and quantitative approach conducted with 225 PHC healthcare professionals. Data was collected through a structured and validated instrument, which provided five indicators of "structure" and four indicators of "process" classified as unsatisfactory, regular or satisfactory.

Results:

The "structure" component was unsatisfactory for the indicator of professionals involved in TB care and training, and regular for the indicator of connection between the units and other levels of care. The "process" component was regular for the indicators of TB information, directly observed treatment and reference and counter reference on TB, and unsatisfactory for external actions on TB control.

Conclusion:

The "structure" and "process" components points out some weaknesses in terms of management and organization of human resources. Low frequency of training and the turnover influenced the involvement of professionals. Elements of "structure" and "process" show the need for investing in the PHC team and improving the clinical management of cases.

Keywords: Tuberculosis , Program Evaluation and Health Services , Primary Health Care , Health on the Border, Management, Decentralization.