Introduction: Primary Health Care (PHC) is a strategy to organize health systems to
enable universal access to services and comprehensive care over time. In Brazil, the strategy
adopted to expand PHC is the Family Health Strategy (ESF). Financing for the expansion of
the ESF has been growing, as has the number of teams deployed. Given this scenario, the
PHC reform generated several needs to improve the network. One of them is the professional
qualification of doctors to work at this level through the Residency Programs in Family and
Community Medicine (PRMFC). Objective: To compare the quality of health care in PHC
units with and without PRMFC. Methods: Cross-sectional study using a questionnaire
applied to health professionals from Basic Health Units (UBS) with and without PRMFC in
Palmas, Tocantins, between August 2020 and July 2021. The following instruments were
applied: a sociodemographic questionnaire and the questionnaire of the QualiAB Assessment
and Monitoring System for Primary Health Care. Results: 98 health professionals from 16
UBS were interviewed (eight with PRMFC and eight without PRMFC). UBS with PRMFC
presented better evaluation compared to UBS without PRMFC, with 8 UBS with PRMFC
being evaluated in the second-best quartile (Q2) (100.00%), while four UBS without PRMFC
(50.00%) were evaluated in Q2 and four in Q3 (50.00%), p = 0.021. In the Management and
Local Governance dimension, the UBS with PRMFC had a better evaluation compared to
UBS without PRMFC, and, similarly to the general evaluation, eight UBS with PRMFC were
evaluated in the second-best quartile (Q2) (100.00% ), while four UBS without PRMFC
(50.00%) were evaluated in Q2 and four in Q3 (50.00%), p = 0.021. Regarding the Health
Care Management dimension, the UBS with PRMFC also had a better evaluation than UBS
without PRMFC, with one UBS with PRMFC being evaluated in the best quartile (Q1)
(12.50%) and seven in Q2. while two UBS without PRMFC (25.00%) were evaluated in Q2,
five UBS in Q3 (62.50%) and one UBS in Q4 (12.50%), p = 0.021. In the items of the
Women's Health Care subdomain, UBS with PRMFC performed better than UBS without
PRMFC in the quality of primary health care for women (median: 78.1; IQ25-75%: 74.3-82.3
versus median: 56.8; IQ25-75%: 48.5-65.6, p = 0.007). Similarly, UBS with PRMFC had
better assessment of Child and Adolescent Health Care than UBS without PRMFC (median:
61.8; IQ25-75%: 33.4-71.0 versus median: 53.6; IQ25-75%: 27.2-60.8, p = 0.015) and Adult
and Elderly Health Care (median: 70.8; IQ25-75%: 61.7-78.9 versus median: 56, 8; IQ25-
75%: 33.6-70.0, p<0.001). Conclusion: The development of Residency Programs in Family
and Community Medicine in primary health care units may be associated with an improvement in the quality of Primary Health Care in Palmas. In our study, it was observed
that UBS with residency programs had better ratings in the QualiAB questionnaire and its
Management and Local Governance and Health Care Management dimensions than UBS
without residency programs, as well as in the quality of primary health care to the different
cycles of life: Child and Adolescent Health Care, Women's Health Care, and Adult and
Elderly Health Care.
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