Analysis of the Efficiency in Primary Health Care From the Perspective of Professionals in the Area

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the efficiency of primary health care, evaluating the experiences in cities in the state of Minas Gerais as regards their effectiveness in health promotion. The cities were selected among the ten benchmark and anti-benchmark ones obtained by a first calculation of efficiency by data envelopment analysis. In-depth interviewing was the technique used to capture the perception of professionals of the municipalities analyzed. In each municipality, three professionals of Primary Health Care were interviewed. The answers were analyzed by content analysis approach and divided into categories defined by the literature in the field of public administration and health management. Among the main results, it was observed that the difficulties highlighted in common in the analyzed cities refer to lack of resources or its limitation as well as the educational status of the population and their low participation and knowledge of Health Strategy. We conclude that there is great need for cross-section work to support promotional activities of existing health and new strategies that can raise people's knowledge level of professionals and managers as a way to improve the performance of health promotion in cities and new strategies that can increase people's knowledge level of professionals as well as managers to improve the performance of health promotion in cities.