Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: AGUINALDO JOSÉ DE ARAÚJO

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : AGUINALDO JOSÉ DE ARAÚJO
DATE: 13/01/2026
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: Remoto
TITLE:

Evaluation of governance in digital health for the quality of primary care in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS).

KEY WORDS:

Primary Health Care. Digital Health. Health Governance. Health Services Evaluation. Case Study.

PAGES: 117
BIG AREA: Ciências da Saúde
AREA: Saúde Coletiva
SUBÁREA: Saúde Pública
SUMMARY:

Digital transformation in the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) presents itself as a strategic driver for the qualification of Primary Health Care (PHC), requiring governance structures capable of articulating technologies, processes, and people. This thesis aims to evaluate digital health governance regarding the quality of primary care. To this end, a case study was adopted in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, combining three investigations articulated by a digital health evaluation model for PHC quality, proposed by Silva et al. (2024), which integrates Donabedian's Triad and the Kellogg Foundation's program logic, operating through method triangulation in three complementary studies. The methodological strategy employed included a rhetorical document analysis of national and international regulations, a cross-sectional survey to map digital actions in Basic Health Units, and a qualitative stage with semi-structured interviews involving managers, health professionals, and IT professionals. The results indicate that, although there is rhetorical alignment between Brazilian and international agencies, the materialization of digital health in PHC faces significant structural barriers. The mapping evidenced massive adherence to Electronic Health Records, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it revealed a predominance of non-institutionalized initiatives and a lack of adequate infrastructure. The qualitative analysis unveiled a fragmented and reactive governance, characterized by the disarticulation between management processes and care practices. The emergence of informal communication flows was observed, which, although expanding immediate access, generate risks to information security, record duplication, and challenges to equity and longitudinality of care. In conclusion, it is pointed out that the evaluation model used enabled the understanding that the operational efficiency achieved does not automatically translate into safe and sustainable best practices. The analyzed data corroborate the hypotheses that the existence of consistent normative resources is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for effective digital health governance; the presence of adequate infrastructure and continuing education positively influences the quality of work processes in PHC; and that good digital health governance is associated with expanded access and improved coordination and longitudinality of care.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Interno - 1214923 - LUIZ ROBERTO AUGUSTO NORO
Interna - 1245215 - SEVERINA ALICE DA COSTA UCHOA
Externo à Instituição - MARCELO FORNAZIN