The user perception about family health team performance in a district of Caucaia-CE - doi:10.5020/18061230.2004.p163

Abstract

A transverse and descriptive study was accomplished at the district of Bom Princípio, in Caucaia, Ceará, with the aim of identifying the users’ perception about the family health team performance. There were 30 users interviewed, all from the district’s Family Health Unit (USF) in the period of 11-18 November, 2002. Most of the users were women, from15 to 60 years of age, of low educational degree and having housework or farming as their main occupation. Nearly 100% of the users considered having had improvements in the health service offer, such as better access and daily attendance in their community. The offered services were classified as “good” in a scale that varied from “excellent” to “very bad”. The main described difficulties were: unsatisfactory doctor-patient relationship, lack of laboratories in order to collect material for clinical tests, delay in the beginning of the attendances, shortage of some medications and precarious transport system for the patients. It is concluded that listening to the user is fundamental for the evaluation process of the family health team performance, once they were capable of pointing out improvements and challenges, as well as suggesting coherent ways of overcoming the current needs.