Hackspiel, María MercedesParedes, Olga Lucía2014-10-182014-10-182014-10-181794-4449http://hdl.handle.net/10567/1175Primary attention in health is the entrance to the health system and, therefore, its accessibility in all of its dimensions must be a special priority. As it receives the greatest coverage of users in its first attention level, primary attention in health must work as an assistance network that also guarantees the access to the other health levels in a more supervised way, and be continuously and permanently integrated with all of the structures and levels of attention. This work intends to determine the knowledge and the perceptions the health professionals have about the primary attention in health and the most common ethical barriers and dilemmas that emerge throughout all of the health attention levels. The study is descriptive, with a qualitative methodology. The instruments were applied to health professionals from all levels and complexities; the participants were selected given their wish to be part of the study; the institutions were chosen by the use of a random sampling procedure. The professionals agreed with most of the primary health attention premises. In the different levels they disagreed with the facts that primary attention in health defines the access to the specialized attention level and that it is a part of another system, much wider than the health system itself. Most of the professionals do not know the bioethical principles, so the decision making processes are left to others.esCorporación Universitaria LasallistaUniversidad Pontificia BolivarianaInstitución Universitaria Colegio Mayor de AntioquiaBioéticaCalidad de vidaAtención médicaArticle