Preparing the care relationship: a welcoming tool in health units

This study aimed to identify and analyze aspects regarding the preparation for the worker-user relationship in a primary health care unit in a city in the state of São Paulo-Brazil, from the perspective of welcoming. The health work process is the theoretical basis of the study; participant observation and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection techniques, and thematic analysis in the analysis stage. For the welcoming to be processed, there is a "moment" of preparation for the worker, the physical environment and the relationships present at work so that users are welcomed, in which the users' needs are sometimes disregarded. Despite the difficulties in terms of resource availability, especially in the public sector, when preparing the service/user and worker/user relationships, one should consider the aspects associated to a more human, welcoming relationship, since it is during live work, in this intersection, that care quality is established.

primary health care; interpersonal relations; health services