Prevenção quaternária e a redução do fluxo de encaminhamentos à angiologia e pedidos de ultrassonografia Doppler

Introduction: Iatrogenesis is an important cause of morbimortality and quaternary prevention (P4), an action that reduces the superfluous diagnostic cascade, was included as an exercise of good practice. Family practice projects P4 into practice, being able to use science combined with communication skills to know people, solving about 85% of complaints, including vascular discomforts. There is a high demand at Sistema Unico de Saude (SUS) both in scheduling exams and referrals to focal specialists with regard to circulatory complaints, but referring is not always appropriate. In this scenario, family practice works as a pathway to P4. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the referrals for vascular surgery/angiologist and requests for Doppler ultrasonography (USG) of vessels from family health units (USF) in Joao Pessoa, PB, analyzing the rates of requests per registered adult population (>18-years-old) in the units affiliated to the family practice medical residency program (FPMRP) for more than a year, less than a year and in the non-affiliated ones, under P4’s critical view. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of data provided by the Regulation Center of the Municipal Health Department of Joao Pessoa, between January 2017 and August 2018. To perform the correlation calculations between the studied variables, Kruskall-Wallis’ correlation test was used through the SPSS 21.0 software. Results: The total number of exam requests under analysis was 3,918, from 90 USF, which add up to an enrolled population over 18-years-old of 332,819 people. For every 85 adult inhabitants, one Doppler exam was requested. Data suggest that the resident doctors request more exams than the non-residents, but on the other hand they have lower rates of referrals to focal experts. Conclusions: These findings may suggest that resident physicians refer less, which may be related to the increase in the resolution of primary care and the teaching of P4 under the guidance of a family practice preceptor. However, new research designs are considered to better elucidate this hypothesis.