Doctors' Work in Primary Health Care in remote rural municipalities: where is the territory?

Resolute and comprehensive health care in remote rural municipalities (RRMs) re-quires Primary Health Care (PHC) with a strong community dimension anchored in the territo-ry. This paper aims to analyze the performance profile of doctors in PHC, considering their work both in the territory and in PHC units. The per-spective of doctors, critical agents in PHC, con-tributes to understanding whether there is an equitable and comprehensive availability of PHC. A qualitative study was carried out in 27 RRMs, with interviews with 46 Family Health doctors. Content analysis, structuring results in dimen-sions of arrangements in the performance of doctors in the territories and the organization of activities at the PHC units. Doctors concentrated their activities in the PHC units, primarily in mu-nicipal headquarters, with heterogeneous work agreements. Knowledge about the characteristics of the territory and the population was weak, es-pecially those assigned at a considerable distance from municipal headquarters. In the rare work conducted within the territory, an itinerant and/ or campaigning model was observed, with the mark of discontinuity. Walk-in patients were pri-oritized over care actions of follow-up and plan-ning. The findings indicate the need to reinforce interaction with the territory in the provision of PHC services in RRMs.