Quality dimension evaluation of a public health network in South Region of Sao Paulo City, in Brazil

Abstract

This research aimed to evaluate the quality of health services provided by public network, in the south region of Sao Paulo city in Brazil, by the perspective of patients’ satisfaction. The field research involved 80 high-risk pregnant women because they used all kinds of health units that make up the Brazilian Unified Health Services System in this region. The research model was adapted to cover the last five dimensions of services quality proposed by Parasuraman et al, and the perceptions of users proposed by Cronin and Taylor. Two quantitative methods of analysis were applied: the descriptive statistics and the method of factor analysis with multiple correspondences. The knowledge generated by this research captured important aspects about the perception of quality by these patients not only in the units but in the regional health services network as a whole. The results contributed to the knowledge level about patient satisfaction and the identification of potential problems which directly impact the health network services quality. The research pointed that 90% of patients were satisfied with units of primary care (UBS) and hospitals, and 82% with specialty ambulatories services (AMA and AMA-E). Key words: Brazilian Unified Health Services System (SUS), Services Network, customer satisfaction, quality evaluation.