Indicadores de qualidade das ações e serviços de saúde do Programa de Controle da Hanseníase em capital hiperendêmica no Brasil

Abstract

The Leprosy Control Program is the principle strategy in Brazil that consolidates follow-up actions of the endemic municipalities, promoting the monitoring, prevention, and control of leprosy by means of the evaluation of health indicators, which include epidemiological and operational indicators capable of measuring the magnitude of the problem and the progress achieved in the program. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the indicators of quality of the actions and health services of the Leprosy Control Program in the hyperendemic capital of Brazil. The research was guided by the type of descriptive evaluative study, carried out in all health care institutions which operate the Leprosy Control Program in the city of São Luiz, Maranhão. The population of the study consisted of all the new cases of leprosy reported in the year 2012, and their respective contacts. The data were collected by means of instruments using the variables contained in the SINAN reporting forms, registry and records of patients reported in 2012. The data were processed and analyzed using the Epi-Info program, version 7, and presented in the form of absolute and relative frequency tables, using the parameters established by the Ministry of Health to evaluate the actions and services provided by healthcare professionals to the individual with leprosy (operational indicators). In 2012, there were 1055 cases and 3310 contacts reported. In the reported cases, it was verified that 51.1% were male, between the ages of 21 and 45 (35.3%), Caucasian (62.6%), with a high school diploma (26%), residents in the state capital (80.6%). The program obtained satisfactory results, being classified as "Good" according to the proportion of discharges by cure (71.6%), abandonment rates (4%), and the evaluation of the degree of physical disability at the moment of the diagnosis (94.5%). The indicators classified as precarious were: the proportion of examined contacts of new cases of leprosy (32.5%) and the proportion of cured cases in the year with a degree of disability evaluated at the moment of discharge (41.2%). The predominant input mode was classified as "new case" (79.1%), and the method of detection was of the type "spontaneous demand" prevailing with 52%. The most prevalent clinical form and operational classification was dimorphic (58.8) and multibacillary (74%) respectively. Based on the above, it can be concluded that the Leprosy Control Program in the city of São Luiz has been working satisfactorily, where 3 of the 5 indicators responsible for evaluating the quality of the actions and services provided by healthcare professionals to the population were classified as "Good", according to the parameters established by the Ministry of Health, suggesting an efficiency in the quality of the follow-up and monitoring of cases until the completion of treatment. The indicators considered "precarious " can indicate that the actions are not being carried out in an effective and resolving manner, contributing to the continuation of high rates of the endemic in the city, considered as hyperendemic.