Abstract

Assessing the impact of the ophthalmology outpatient department on primary health care. MEDISAN [online]. 2010, vol.14, n.7, pp. 888-903. ISSN 1029-3019.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the introduction and improvement of the ophthalmology outpatient department in the health area "Frank País García" of Santiago de Cuba municipality from April 2008 to April 2009, taking into account the clinical process and accessibility to the outpatient department, from both patients and health personnel. Method: A research in health systems and services was conducted, for which 576 patients from a total of 3047 were randomly selected and then surveyed, together with all health professionals who worked in this department. Results: In the clinical process, of 17 indicators analyzed, only 1(5,9%) was inappropriate, concerning the referral of patients to secondary care; in the accessibility, of 23 analyzed indicators, 3(13,1%) were inappropriate: use of the media for information in eye health, rate of detected cases for surgery, and activities in posgraduate training. Conclusions: The impact of the ophthalmology outpatient department was positive in a general sense, without disregarding the elements of dissatisfaction obtained.

Keywords : ophthalmology outpatient department; clinical process and accessibility to the ophthalmology outpatient department; impact assessment; primary health care.

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