Contribuições da Ciência da Informação para Melhorar o Acesso ao Sistema Único de Saúde

This research aimed to study the difficulties encountered by the population in accessing the Brazilian Unified Health System. This was also intended to provide support for thinking about the transversality of Information Science in the Health sector. To this end, exploratory research was carried out, following a mixed methods approach, in Pernambuco State. It was observed that the majority of the 103 research participants use the system in their daily lives, for specialized care and surgeries, have access to the Internet, access to information and communication technologies, and are open to using technologies in their relationship with the system. The difficulties they have in accessing the Health System relate to: lack of health professionals, lack of computerization of health units, need for training of health professionals, limited number of health units and disorganized waiting lists. In this context, the potential contributions of Information Science to improving access to the Unified Health System include development of information services focused on access to the system, development of tools that can assist health professionals and the population on several fronts and collaboration in computerization and interoperability of health unit systems.