Walk-in: a clinical narrative of Primary Health Care

Abstract

This text presents a clinical narrative of a fictional case in a primary care center in Brazil. A supermarket cashier goes to the center in the middle of the night complaining of chest pain, fearing a heart attack. Her encounter with the family physician reveals how active listening, a context-based physical examination and accessible language transform care. The narrative explores comprehensiveness as one of the underlying principles of the Brazilian National Health System (SUS), framing pain in the context of precarious working and living conditions. The reflective note accompanying the story dialogues with the field of narrative medicine, proposing that clinical competence requires narrative competence.

Keywords
Narrative medicine; Primary Health Care; Humanization of care; Doctor-patient relationship; Literature