Comparative analysis of chronic disease in the Portuguese functional units USF & UCSP

• Main Author: Marques, João Daniel dos Santos
• Publication Date: 2022
• Format: Master thesis
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/27441
• topic: Chronic multiplicity; Primary health care; Portuguese National Health System; USF; UCSP; Multiplicidade crónica; Cuidados de saúde primários; Sistema Nacional de Saúde Português

With the increase of the elderly population and lifestyle changes, chronic multiplicity has become a growing concern around health services, with an increasing number of cases and costs. The first phase of intervention in this cycle of care begins, precisely, with Primary Health Care. In Portugal, there are two healthcare functional units, UCSP (Personalized Health Care Unit) and USF (Family Health Unit) model A and B, each one with a different work process. This study aims to find critical dimensions of success and improvement among these units when treating those patients with chronic conditions and, with that, consolidating value in healthcare. To this end, an exploratory study was conducted with 2 questionnaires, to 10 physicians and 152 diabetic and hypertensive patients, to understand their opinion and experiences around the functioning of the health units. The main dimensions highlighted were the consultation time, centeredness of the service to the patients, and their involvement. That leads to the conclusion that each model has a distinct focus, and the current health system is not quite suitable enough for the reality of different patients. Still, USF-A proved to be capable to maintain a better balance of satisfaction and a model to follow for implementation and leverage new working methods.