Profile and performance of nutritionists in Primary Health Care

Dixis Figueroa Pedraza,Iná Da Silva Santos

doi:10.1590/1678-98652017000600015

Dixis Figueroa Pedraza, Iná Da Silva Santos

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-98652017000600015

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Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective To describe the profile and performance of nutritionists in Primary Health Care. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out, and all nutritionists in two municipalities of Paraíba, Brazil, were interviewed. Information was collected through structured interviews on demographic characteristics, professional qualification, development of food and nutrition activities, knowledge and use of essential bibliography for the work in Primary Care. Results In one municipality there were 28 teams of the Family Health Strategy and in the other, nineteen teams. In all, nineteen nutritionists were interviewed, fourteen of whom were working in the health teams and five were working exclusively in the Family Health Support Centers. All but one were women and the majority were between 20 and 39 years; the majority (n=10) had no graduate training. Nutritionists from the basic health teams developed more public health nutrition actions, such as defining nutritional care protocols and vitamin A and iron supplementation than those from the Family Health Support Centers (11 versus 1; and 13 versus 1, respectively). About half were satisfied with work in general, and dissatisfaction was related to deficiencies in the availability and quality of anthropometric equipment, physical structure and material. Conclusion Nutritionists work in food and nutrition actions in collective health, emphasizing the importance of qualification and practices that better combine the programmatic agenda of this area with Primary Care.

Highlights

Primary Health Care (PHC), called Basic Care in Brazil, is the first level of contact of individuals, families and communities with national health systems, and has been designed to address the main health needs of communities, through actions of promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, both individually and collectively [1]
Nineteen nutritionists were interviewed, fourteen of whom were working in health teams and five exclusively in the Family Health Support Center (FHSC)
There was a higher proportion of nutritionists who received these trainings among those working in the Family Health Strategy (FHS) teams compared to those working in the FHSC (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

With the perspective of increasing the resolution and impact on the health situation of people and communities [3], the nutrition area in PHC should include the development of strategies to respond to the main demands associated with eating disorders, nutritional deficiencies, malnutrition and obesity; development of therapeutic projects; food and nutrition diagnosis of the population; promotion of food and nutrition safety; and definition of nutritional care protocols [6]. In this sense, the nutritionist is considered the only professional with adequate training to act in the promotion of healthy food practices and food and nutrition safety, effecting the promotion and recovery of health and the prevention of diseases [7]. The insertion of this professional is still incipient in Brazil [7,8,9]

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Discussion

Conclusion