Abstract

CABANAS DUARTE, Francisco; MOLINAS FERNANDEZ, Carlos E.; CABRAL DE BEJARANO, María Stella  and  MANCUELLO DE ALUM, Julia Noemí. VALORACIÓN DE LA CALIDAD DE LA ATENCIÓN EN LOS SERVICIOS DE SALUD INFANTIL SEGÚN LA PERCEPCIÓN DE USUARIAS/OS EN ASUNCIÓN Y DEPARTAMENTO CENTRAL, PERIODO 2007 - 2008. Rep. cient. FACEN [online]. 2010, vol.1, n.1, pp.56-79. ISSN 2222-145X.

According to patients, the quality of care in Child health services is a difficult concept to measure or quantify. For this study, an index of clinical governance linked to the quality of care in these institutions was used. This index is based on 43 variables such as, implementation of free services, availability of medicines and supplies, services offered, hours of operation, human resources, waiting time, accessibility, coverage, compliance and monitoring of the Integral Care Plan of, among others, prevailing illness during childhood. The aim of this study was to analyze the quality indicators and to assess the demand of attention in several Child Health care institutions. Data were collected in two Sanitary Regions, Asunción and Central departments, during the months of October 2007 through June 2008, interviewing the person who was in charge of the hospitalized child or who was accompanying him/her to the health service; a questionnaire consisting of open and closed questions was answered. Out of 317 completed interviews, it was found that 25,7% sought services at Specialized Hospitals (HE), 15,8% at District Hospitals (HD) and 10,5% at Regional Hospitals (HR). Relating to the quality of care indicators, 30% considered them very good, 32,5% good, 23% fair, and 14.5% of poor quality, being the HD at Limpio, the Health centres (CS) at Loma Pytá and the CS N° 9 Bernardino Caballero the worse ones; while on the other hand, the Acosta Ñu services, the National hospital at Itauguá and the HR at San Lorenzo were the best. The significance tests show that children admitted into hospital on average come from longer distances in km, take longer time to arrive from home to the services centre and have on average greater expenditure than children who come only for consultation. (p<0,01). With respect to the indexes of quality, they are related to the sanitary region and to whether the child comes to be admitted into hospital or just for consultation; being concluded that in the Central department the quality of services is better than those provided in Asunción, whereas the attention provided in consultation is better than in hospitalization. (p<0,01).

Keywords : Quality of care; Promotion and Prevention; Comprehensive care of prevalent diseases in childhood; pocket money expenditure; Demand for care and indicators of clinical governance.

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