Adequacy of the prenatal care process among users of the Unified Health Care System in Juiz de Fora-MG - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia

Adequacy of the prenatal care process among users of the Unified Health Care System in Juiz de Fora-MG |

PURPOSE: to evaluate the adequacy of the prenatal care process offered to users of the Unified Health Care System (SUS) in Juiz de Fora-MG and to compare the municipal services. METHODS: a transversal study with auditing was carried out on the records of 370 pregnant women, selected by systematic sampling among women who carried their pregnancies to term and gave birth using SUS services in the first semester of 2002, with prenatal care given in Juiz de Fora. For statistical analysis the c² test was used to compare the municipal services (level of significance: 5%). The evaluation followed a three-tiered complementary sequence, using: the utilization of prenatal care (Kessner index: beginning and frequency of care) at level 1; the utilization of prenatal care and basic laboratory tests, according to the Humanization Program of Prenatal Care and Birth (ABO-Rh, hemoglobin/hematocrit, VDRL, glycemia and urinalysis), at level 2; and the utilization of prenatal care, the basic laboratory tests and the obligatory clinical-obstetric procedures during a prenatal visit (assessment of blood pressure, weight, edema, uterine fundal height, gestational age, fetal heart rate and fetal presentation), at level 3. RESULTS: the observed adequacy of the process was only 26.7% (level 1), 1.9% (level 2) and 1.1% (level 3). We also observed a prenatal coverage of 99.04%, an average of 6.4 visits per pregnant woman, and an average gestational age of 17.4 weeks at the time of the first prenatal visit. There were no significant differences between the municipal services. CONCLUSIONS: prenatal care offered to SUS users in Juiz de Fora should be reviewed from a qualitative standpoint, and periodic evaluations as necessary instruments of improvement are recommendable. Managers and professionals should undertake actions aimed at increasing compliance with norms/routines of the program - principally the request/recording of basic complementary tests - and which guarantee increased utilization of prenatal care.