Mediation in health: spaces and professional actions in the rural population care network

Abstract

The current organization of Health Care Networks (Redes de Atenção em Saúde - RAS) requires a look that seeks to analyze them from the perspectives of professionals and users, which gives movement to these systems. The mediation in health, as an act of the professional on health demands of the users and affecting the flow of the use of the service, is one possibility to perform the RAS analysis. The objective of this study is to analyze the local organization of one RAS using the mediation activities undertaken by professionals working in health services and serving rural populations. This is a qualitative study that used semi-structured interview, field diary, and participatory observation. We learned that the exercise of mediation in health actions, involve different sectors and actors that happens on the health area, generating issues in different spaces and is limited beyond what is filed and formally instituted for health services. The playing field of the mediator, however, depends on the recognition of mediation actions as a legitimate action, otherwise there is a possibility that the action of mediation generates de-authorization and restriction processes to professionals. We also learned that by studying the mediation in health in one RAS gives visibility to the power that exists in the plots of these arrangements, that deserves attention and enlarged debate as it affects the institutional logic and interferes with the RAS organization locally.

Attention Networks; Health Care; Health Mediation; Rural Population