Acesso às consultas médicas nos serviços públicos de saúde

Objective: To assess the accessibility to medical appointments in public health services. Methods: Transversal, analytic, population-based research in a medium-sized city in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The data were collected from a semi structured questionnaire presented to a representative sample of the city, of 2150 people. The statistic treatment considered p<0.05 as the level of significance. Results: 19.4% of the interviewees reported having sought a public health professional/service up to 15 days prior to the interview. Among these cases, 75.6% occurred in the Primary Health Care (PHC). The majority of these seekers were females (p<0.001) and people with no private health insurance (p<0.001). The majority (77.2%) was seen in the first time they sought the public health service. A bigger prevalence of no access could be highlighted when the patient sought the PHC and for treatment/rehabilitation (p<0.05). The use of medical service in that year was reported to be 54.4%, with a higher average for women, adults and people with no private health insurance (p<0.05). Conclusion: It is necessary to think over the public health management and professional conduct to make medical appointments effective. Therefore, adopting welcoming and permanent teaching measures among family health professionals is advised.