A survey of the perception of comprehensiveness among dentists in a large Brazilian city.

Grazielle Mattos,Mauro Abreu,Cleiton Sirineu,Bruno Teixeira,Jennifer Gallagher,Saul Paiva

doi:10.3390/ijerph110404249

Abstract

Objectives: To quantitatively identify the perception of dentists regarding comprehensiveness and its domains of “patient welcoming”, “bonding” and “quality of care” in primary dental care settings of a large Brazilian city. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to all dentists comprising the primary health care service to Belo Horizonte with tenured jobs and 40 work hours per week, totalling a population of 207 professionals. The response rate was 90.34%. A pilot test was conducted with 44 dentists working in primary care for at least two years and who did not participate in the main study. Descriptive statistical analysis involved calculating proportions. No confidence intervals were calculated because this was a census study. Results: In most items (79.0%), professionals’ perceptions about the comprehensiveness were overwhelmingly positive. When we stratified the analysis by domain and checked those items about which dentists had a less favourable perception, 22.7% were in the patient welcoming domain, 25.0% were in the bonding domain and 12.5% were in quality of care. Conclusions: Comprehensiveness, as an approach in health care practice, needs to be enhanced, and there is evidence that these dentists are aware of its importance.

Highlights

Many public health systems around the world are attempting to establish guidelines to improve the performance of health services
The five items (22.7%) in the patient welcoming domain about which the perception was less favourable were those about the participation of patients in health promotion activities in the waiting room; knowledge of other health care professionals about oral health care problems of the population of the region; systematic home visits by the oral health care team; planning patient care with the aid of other health professionals; and training of auxiliary team staff by the dentist
Dentists’ perception of the concept of comprehensiveness was largely positive. These results may reflect positively on the services because comprehensiveness of care is often used as a quality indicator of Primary Health Care (PHC) [3,9,17], and it is considered an important principle in health systems around the world, such as in the Brazilian and Canadian systems [16,18]

Summary

Introduction

Many public health systems around the world are attempting to establish guidelines to improve the performance of health services. PHC is based on a group of aspects that when connected are important to structure an efficient healthcare system and reduce health inequalities, considering social, economic and cultural contexts [1,3,4,5] The main aspects, such as universal health access, continuity of care and comprehensiveness, are considered paramount in this structure in order to enhance the quality of care provided [3,6]. Comprehensiveness seeks to take care of people as whole beings in the circumstances in which they live and provide all of the care that people might need; it implies a comprehensive approach to individuals in which the full range of their health needs is recognised. It is a two-dimensional concept, so it seeks to ensure that more health services at all care levels are interconnected and provided, from prevention to tertiary care [3,6,7]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion