[A tool for analysis of patients' travels for treating breast cancer in the Brazilian Public Health System based on the national Hospital Cancer Registry].

Abstract

In Brazil, 704,000 cases of cancer have been estimated for the 2023-2025 triennium, with breast cancer being the most common type, accounting for 10.37% of the total. The organization of care networks is based on the regionalized model. However, this structure means that patients are sometimes obliged to travel long distances to receive the diagnosis and treatment. Patient displacement has been the subject of studies worldwide. In the international context, the focus is on analyzing the association between displacement and clinical outcome. On the national scene, the focus is still restricted to the characterization of displacement, and for this purpose, it uses the database of the outpatient information system (SIA-SUS). In view of the need to evaluate the use of a database that allows more detailed analysis of patient displacement, the scope of this study was to present the development of a computational tool for analyzing the displacement of patients undergoing breast cancer treatment in the SUS, using data from the Hospital Cancer Registry (RHC). The tool was developed and implemented, and, despite potential limitations, it proved to be efficient in generating information.