[Quality as perceived by people using hospitals in the Colombian health service network restructuring programme]

OBJECTIVE

Establishing a quality base-line as perceived by hospital users, subject to intervention by the health-service restructuring, redesign and modernisation programme.

METHOD

4 021 users were interviewed face-to-face in August 2006 from a sample of hospitals from the programme using an instrument already validated for measuring health service users' perception of quality (PECASUSS).

RESULTS

The interviewees (38,7 % mean age, 70 % women, 60 % affiliated to the subsided system, 55 % from stratum 1 and 53 % attended in general consultation) scored mostly as good or very good 16 different aspects perceived of the quality of services. Mean user quality score was 3,98 (0,8 SD) on a score ranging from 0,0 (bad) to 5,0 (excellent).

CONCLUSIONS

Quality was generally rated as good as perceived by people using the hospital programme. The humanised treatment received from the medical staff was given the highest score regarding quality of attention received by the interviewees.

[Validating an instrument for measuring the perceived quality of services received by people using hospitals in Colombia]

OBJECTIVE

Validating an instrument for measuring the perceived quality of services received by people using hospitals forming part of the Colombian Ministry of Social Protection's restructuring, redesigning and modernisation programme for health-service providing networks.

METHODS

Sánchez and Echeverri's guidelines for validating health quality measurement scales were followed due to the lack of a valid instrument for doing this in Colombia.

RESULTS

Conceptual synthesis led to identifying a structure of constituent indicators, domains and sub-domains regarding the perception of health service quality. A list of reactions (having a scale for categorising the replies) was analysed according to the validity of appearance, construct, criteria and utility as criteria for sensitivity and usefulness. Successive revisions and three rounds of field-trials led to producing PECASUSS, an acronym given to the instrument for measuring users' perception of health service quality (Percepción de Calidad Según Usuarios de Servicios de Salud).

CONCLUSIONS

The guidelines effectively orientated the validation of the instrument required for measuring the perceived quality of health services received by people using hospitals forming part of the programme.

Emotional burn-out in official teachers, Medellín, Colombia, 2005

OBJECTIVE

Exploring signs of emotional and physical weakness or Burnout syndrome in qualified teachers in Medellin, Colombia, 2005.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was applied to a random bi-stage sample of 239 teachers who filled in a questionnaire by themselves to explore demographic, work and social variables and dimensions of the Burnout syndrome, according to the Maslach Burnout Inventary (MBI).

RESULTS

The findings showed that 23.4% of the sample presented signs of Burnout and a further 23.4% were at risk of suffering it; emotional weakness and depersonalisation were present in both subgroups.

CONCLUSIONS

A relationship between Burnout signs and some of the variables studied was found. It is suggested that personal, family and social variables potentially associated with the syndrome should be explored more deeply.