Tuberculosis in primary health care: identifying priority cases in a municipality in southern Brazil

The objective of this study was to analyze the performance of a Typical Primary Health Care Unit (TPHCU) and Family Health Unit (FHU) in the cases of TB detection and verify the capacity of health services for respiratory symptomatic (RS) care according to two types of organization. The study was carried out in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, from April to August 2012. Two hundred and seventy-six health professionals from 5lmunicipal units of Primary Health Care (PHC) participated in the study; they answered a pre-tested structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using frequencies and multiple correspondence analyses. The FHU was associated with: professionals qualified to identify the RS, availability of container for sputum collection and request forms for baciloscopy; clinical evaluation and request for baciloscopy; collective actions in the community. The TPHCU was connected with: professionals out of date for clinical practices and tests and uncertainty in identifying RS; lack of container to collect sputum and request form for baciloscopy; professionals who did not perform clinical evaluation and did not request baciloscopy. Therefore, the detection of TB cases in primary health care center, especially in the TPHCU, was poor in structuring and developing actions to detect cases of the disease in the city.