A convenience sampling process was used to define the sample size for all professionals (physicians, nurses, and dentists) of FHC and all pharmacists of FHSC. Data from the FHU, FHSC teams-and their professionals were made available by the Municipal Health Department.
We chose FHSC professionals for this investigation because we understand that FHU should be the preferred gateway for all people when they seek medical assistance in the health care system, regardless of their living condition.
Questionnaires were administered to 88 professionals of FHU (31 physicians, 30 nurses, and 27 dentists) and four FHSC pharmacists.
Over half of the respondents (55.4%) had more than five years of experience in PHC services, in FHU or FHSC, whereas only about 18% of them had less than two years of experience.
Nevertheless, data revealed that 68.5% of the professionals working in the FHU or FHSC had attended a deaf person at some point.
Moreover, the coverage of FHSC in medium and large municipalities has been a challenge for the achievement of universality in Brazil (28).
Among the challenges to access care in the FHSC, we highlight the provision of physicians (recruitment and retention) (29), as well as the adequate training of professionals to ensure the reliability of care at the primary health care (6) and, most importantly, austerity policies (4).