Grau de satisfação entre os usuários de uma unidade básica de saúde no estado do Paraná, Brasil

AIMS: To evaluate the users' degree of satisfaction with the structure and services provided in a Basic Health Unit of the Public Health System.METHODS: This cross-sectional study included individuals aged ≥18 years, of both genders, individually interviewed from March to May 2018 at the Ferraria Basic Health Unit, Campo Largo, Paraná, Brazil. A structured questionnaire contained sociodemographic information and questions adapted from the instrument used in the National Health Services Evaluation Program, regarding satisfaction with the staff, waiting time and local physical structure. Descriptive analysis of the data was followed by the Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, Chi-square and Poisson regression tests. Values of p<0.05 were considered statistically significant.RESULTS: The sample consisted of 373 users who met the inclusion criteria, of whom 72.9% were female, 82.8% were white race/skin color, 69.0% had low income and 36.4% had low schooling.The health team was the best evaluated item (73.3% of answers in the categories "very good" and "good"); and the waiting time for service was the worst evaluated item (61.5% of answers "bad" or "very poor"). In the bivariate analysis, the health team care was not associated with any independent variables. In the general evaluation of the establishment, the categories "very good/good", "regular", "bad" and "very bad" were evaluated respectively by 84 (27.4%), 128 (41.7%), 67 (21.8%) and 28 (9.1%) white users; and 22 (34.9%), 34 (54.0%), 7 (11.1%) and 0 (0.0%) non-white users (p=0.006). In the Poisson regression model, low schooling was associated with a 1.5 times greater chance of not knowing where to complain in case of poor care.CONCLUSIONS: The degree of satisfaction of the users of the Ferraria Basic Health Unit was influenced by factors such as race/skin color, income and schooling. Non-white users expressed a higher degree of satisfaction than white users. Users with low schooling knew less where to complain if service was not satisfactory. Although the evaluation was generally positive, some items were identified as unsatisfactory, deserving corrective measures.