[Investment of time resource in prenatal care by family health staff].

This study is about low-risk pregnant women attended by a family health unit. It aims to describe the time resource the health staff invested and to analyze its configuration in the prenatal monitoring process. Data were collected from 47 women between 20 and 29 years old, who were attended from 2001 to 2003, in the eastside of São Paulo City. The pregnant women were classified according to the health care they received: a first group without health problems, a second with early expert intervention and a third with patients needing dental treatment. In the three groups, more time was invested by health professionals with higher education, followed by community health agents during home visits. Average total time per pregnant woman was 10 hours for the first group and 12 hours for the second and the third group. The time invested in direct care ranged from 59.40% to 80.51%.