Hospitalizations due to primary care sensitive conditions after family health strategy implementation on Petrópolis/RJ

Abstract

Objective: To quantify and to compare the hospitalizations sensible to primary care (HSPC) with the brute rate of hospitalizations analyzing its frequency with the family health program (FHP) in Petrópolis/RJ. Methods: After analyzing the national health system data, we extracted the rate of HSPC between 1999-2013. Then we have established the ratio of the hospitalizations and city residents multiplied by a thousand. The Pearson correlation coefficient was applied to obtain the the variables correlation. Results: The data presented a reduction of 54.4% in the number of HSPC for the investigated period. Total hospitalizations related to primary care conditions went from 19.9% to 16.5%. The rate of HSPC decreased as the coverage of the FHP increased its coverage. Conclusion: The changes observed are significant and stimulate further investigations regarding the FHP strategy and its potential as an effective way of reducing the HSPC in other regions.