ACGEST SYSTEM FOR HEALTH CARE FOR PREGNANT AND POSTPARTUM WOMEN IN PRIMARY CARE

Abstract

Ensuring quality prenatal and puerperal care is one of the public health policies in Brazil aimed at women and developed by nurses and community health agents (CHA) in primary care. Technology can improve the work process of these teams by making scheduling, tracking, and reporting easier. The objective was to create an integrated system between the routines of the CHA, the pregnant/postpartum women and the management carried out in the health services for this public. Then, through experimental research, field observations and knowledge of the great need to implement information technology (IT) in the public health environment, AcGest was modeled and developed. For this, IT needs were considered for use by the CHA, pregnant/postpartum women and health units. The system was divided into three modules: two applications for Android smartphones (pregnant and CHA modules) and one for the Web as a management module, which will be used on computers in health units. The system was tested in a simulated environment by the researchers and a health team in the city of Parnamirim-RN. The first version is ready, but it needs to be tested with pregnant/postpartum women, which will only be possible after submission to the ethics committee, for functionality improvements and usability evaluation. The application has great potential to improve routine care for this public, maternal and child health indicators, and serves as a model for further research in the area, as will be seen throughout this article.