The Articulator of Primary Health Care Program: an innovative proposal for qualification of Primary Health Care

• Published in: Ciência & saude coletiva Vol. 22; no. 6; p. 2073
• Main Authors: Doricci, Giovanna Cabral, Guanaes-Lorenzi, Carla, Pereira, Maria José Bistafa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Brazil 01.06.2017
• Subjects: Brazil; Communication; Health Care Reform; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Politics; Primary Health Care - organization & administration
• ISSN: 1678-4561; 1678-4561
• DOI: 10.1590/1413-81232017226.17412016

In 2009, the Secretary of State for Health of Sao Paulo created a Program with a view to qualify the primary care in the state. This proposal includes a new job function, namely the articulator of primary care. Due to the scarcity of information about the practice of these new professionals in the scientific literature, this article seeks to analyze how articulators interpret their function and how they describe their daily routines. Thirteen articulators were interviewed. The interviews were duly analyzed by qualitative delineation. The results describe three themes: 1)Roles of the articulator: technical communicator and political advisor; 2) Activities performed to comply with the expected roles, examples being diagnosis of the municipalities, negotiation of proposals, participation in meetings, visits to municipalities; and 3) Challenges of the role, which are configured as challenges to the health reform process, examples being the lack of physical and human resources, activities of professionals in the medical-centered model, among others. The conclusion drawn is that the Program has great potential to provide input for the development and enhancement of Primary Care. Nevertheless, there are a series of challenges to be overcome, namely challenges to the context per se.