[The coverage and quality of the follow-up in the prenatal care at a health center].

OBJECTIVE

To discover the recruitment and follow-up coverage of Prenatal Care in Parla Health Center, derivation causes and quality control of follow-up.

DESIGN

Descriptive and retrospective study.

PATIENTS

We obtained 445 newborns (from May 1991 to April 1992) in pediatric records of Health Center, and encountered 412 women records (93%).

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

We measured general practitioner coverage, obstetric derivation and causes, and audit of 23 quality markers selected. General practitioner diagnosed pregnancy in 142 cases (32%). Of them, 63 were derivated at the beginning, 19 at the following-up, and 60 cases (13.5% of total newborns known) were completed in primary care. In these, 19 of 23 quality markers were fulfilled over 80%.

CONCLUSIONS

We emphasized the poor capacity of primary care for recruiting pregnancies in the moment (most of them went straight to obstetric), and the excellent results of quality control markers. These situations can be as similar as many others Health Centers in urban areas. Coordination with Reference Obstetric Services is necessary as a strategy to increased the coverage of these programs.