RECEPTIVENESS AS A HUMANIZATION DIRECTIVE: PERCEPTIONS FROM USERS AND HEALTH PROFESSIONALS.

Abstract

Users’ receptiveness has recently been a major focus on delivery of health services in Brazil. This study aims to discuss the interaction between health professionals and users of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) in this context. From the start, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA) subscribed to the National Humanization Policy (PNH) launched by the Ministry of Health, prioritizing its four directives, being receptiveness (acolhimento) one of them, implemented in different areas of the institution. At HCPA/Santa Cecília Health Clinic, the institution’s primary health care branch, this directive was put in place in order to qualify the health care. We interviewed 89 users and 10 nursing personnel that worked in the front desk greeting the public. The instruments employed made possible for us to investigate the meaning of receptiveness in health services, what patients and health professionals considered important and what users are looking for in the moment they are greeted. The answers were clustered in typologies such as assessment, referrals to other health professionals, orientation and listening. We concluded that attributes differ between users and nursing personnel, being this research project an opportunity to reflect over the meaning of receptiveness for users and towards the improvement of health services in primary health care.