Scientific research, primary care and family medicine
three essential ingredients for improving the quality of health care
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5712/rbmfc15(42)2466Keywords:
Primary Care, Family Practice, Capacity Building.Abstract
Despite the great expansion of our specialty in the last 30 years, we are still far from meeting the Brazilian demand for family doctors. We currently represent only 1.4% of the total number of medical specialists in Brazil and less than 5% of the total number of residency vacancies in the country are allocated to family medicine (FM). With 70% of our population covered by the Family Health Strategy, only a small proportion has a family doctor trained in a FM residency program. Unfortunately, we have little scientific evidence to demonstrate the impact of FM training on the quality of care delivered to our patients and to support our ongoing discourse about the unique competencies within FM. This perpetuates a common notion among policymakers and managers that the provision of primary health care (PHC) is simplistic, unchallenging, and easily performed by any physician without specialized training. If FM intends to establish itself as the medical specialty responsible for PHC in Brazil and in developing countries, it needs to be able to study the universe of FM and PHC with the depth and rigor that these complex disciplines demand. As such, building capacity in research represents an important step towards the development of comprehensive PHC with a strong FM foundation. By questioning our practice and trying to see how much of a difference we really make in the care of our patients, we can expand the evidentiary basis of our discipline and demonstrate how much PHC becomes more qualified and comprehensive by having a doctor trained in FM. This essay addresses the difficulties of FM in showing its value and its importance for health systems and presents the vital role that scientific research must play in facing these challenges.
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