Management of acute respiratory infections in children: evaluation in Rio de Janeiro health care facilities

Abstract

The goal of this article was to assess quality of case management for acute respiratory infection (ARI) in children and to detect barriers to proper management. A cross-sectional approach was used with a representative sample of primary and out-patient health care facilities under the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Health Department. Physicians were observed while attending children under five years of age with ARI, and the children were then evaluated according to standard criteria, and the results compared. Physicians were interviewed and health care facilities evaluated for availability of antibiotics. We studied 29 facilities (two hospitals, 20 health centers, and seven health posts), interviewed 46 physicians, and observed 267 children. Sensitivity of the classification used to detect pneumonia was 21.8 (95% CI: 9.3-40.4), specificity was 77.3 (95% CI: 70.3-82.4), and accuracy was 70.6 (95% CI: 64.7-75.5). Antibiotics were prescribed unnecessarily for 8.9% of ARI cases. Standard antibiotics were available in all the health care facilities. We conclude that quality of ARI case management in children can be improved substantially, especially with more training and supervision and better organization of services.