Analysis of access and care among PMAQ-AB results and users satisfaction of emergency department: similarities and differences

Abstract

The objective was to identify similarities and differences about user satisfaction with Primary Health Care (PHC) in the dimensions of access and care from non-urgent care in emergency care (EC) in Ribeirão Preto-SP with the National Program Evaluation Improving Access and Quality of Primary Care (PMAQ-AB), whose evaluation in Ribeirão Preto happened in same period. It was a quantitative study in the PA units of the five Health Districts.The study included 514 users who received at least one appointment in the PHC in the six months preceding the survey. We used the EUROPEP instrument - European Task Force on Patient Evaluation of General Practice Care and diary as data sources. It was based on the results of the dimensions of access and host PMAQ assessment to identify similarities and differences between what users of this study reported. During recruitment of users we realized that many did not receive medical care in PHC in the last six months justifying the difficulty in getting vaccancy and when they get sick and need to look for EC. We have that 12.7% were treated on the same day that sought to PHC. Of the 87.3% that have not met the same day, the average waiting time between the day of marking and the day of appointment on the PHC was 58 days, 42.4% of users answered "bad" about the ease in making an appointment. The results converge with PMAQ-AB results signaled underperforming to host the spontaneous demand. However, the good evaluation of PMAQ-AB in the category marking appointment diverged with the results of this study it was constant complaint by the delay in scheduling appointments. We conclude that users seen in EC in Ribeirão Preto-SP not recognize PHC as a regular source of care, which may interfere with non-adherence to these continuous service, resulting in the search for urgent and emergency services to treat injuries that could be resolved in the PHC

Keywords

• Primary Health Care. Patient Satisfaction. Health Services Evaluation