Professional performance and working conditions in primary health careinside the northeast Brazil

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 Pandemic highlighted the need to understand and improve the working conditions of health professionals, in addition to Individual Protection Equipment, as these workers oftenface precarious working conditions. This studysought to investigate the professional performance and working conditions of Primary Health Care professionals in the interior of the Brazilian Northeast. This is a qualitative-quantitative, transversal, descriptive research, carried out through semi-structured interviews. Of the 86 participants, 60% (n=52) were Community Health Agents, 15% (n=13) nursing technicians, 12% (n=10) nurses, 7% (n= 6) physicians, 3% (n=3) oral health technicians and 2% (n=2) dentists. Itwas observed that, in the work of professionals, there are still problems that compromise the guarantee of health care for populations in the interior of the Northeast region, such as the scarcity of human and material resources, work overload, or even the precariousness of infrastructure. Ensuring adequate working conditions is essential to strengthen the prevention and health promotion of the Brazilian population, even more so, in the current moment of facing the pandemic and the reduction in SUS funding.