Practices of longitudinality in the Family Health Strategy in Distrito Federal, Brazil

This article aims to know the health practices oriented to the longitudinality referred by local professionals and managers of Family Health teams from the Distrito Federal, Brazil, analyzing them in relation to its dimensions. This is a case study in which individual interviews and focus group were conducted with subjects from the research, and then it was performed analysis of the Collective Subject Discourse. It was observed that the dimensions Regular source of care and Interpersonal relationship are present in the discourse of the subjects, showing the mechanisms adopted to ensure continuity of care. However, the teams should expand the field in developing their work processes in order to effectively build health practices as social practices, beyond the limits of programmatic activities and individualized for recognizing and acting on social determinants of health. It was not possible to observe the dimension of Informational continuity.

primary health care; Family Health Strategy; continuity of patient care; professional practice