Tecnologias da informação na Atenção Primária: um olhar sobre a implantação do e-visita para os agentes comunitários de saúde

Abstract

This research project discusses the implementation of a software designed for community health workers (CHWs, community health agents in Brazil) in Belo Horizonte, the third largest city in the Southeast Region of Brazil. The municipality developed a software called e-visita in an effort to optimize and further enhance the quality of the CHWs work processes. Through this data processing system, the professional is able to record the visits made, as well as the registration and updatingof population data and even specific surveillance actions in the territory, all in a singlee-system. This study aims to analyze the implementation process of the e-visita project, as a tool for the qualification of the CHW work processes in the different territories of the municipality, both its challenges and potentialities. The present field research uses the exploratory, descriptive qualitative approach method. Data collection instruments used were a semistructured questionnaire (online) for the primary healthcare center manager, nurses, and CHW and a focus group carried out in person with CHWs to further explore the study topic. The inclusion criteria to participate in the research were: being a nurse on the family health team of the PHC unit, the unit manager, or CHW performing field activities and using the e-visit system. The content of the material collected from the questionnaires and interviews was analyzed according to the assumptions of a critical conception of content analysis. Therecorded audios were also transcribed, facilitating the reading and identification of the categories that emerged from the content of the responses, which were later regroupedinto a smaller number of categories. This study is expected to contribute to improvingboth the use of the software and the work process of the CHW, through the identification of barriers, challenges, facilitators and limitations of the system itself