The user’s voice and the management of health services

Abstract

A descriptive study was carried out from September to November 2005. Its aim was to identify the opinions of users in terms of the of the health services they have used, as well as to relate their points of view about the management of the services. The data were collected in a primary care unit in Fortaleza-CE through direct observation and also by the “exit interview” technique, which was applied to 50 users as they were leaving the unit. The outcome was presented in the following categories: the reasons the users went to a Health Unit; the needs which were met and those which were not met; any changes identified in the Health Unit; any aspects which pleased the users and so should be kept; any aspects which did not please the users and should be changed; and the things the users would change if they were in the manager’s shoes. The users provided important contributions for the improvement of the quality of the health service. It was suggested to the management to use the “exit interview” systematically in order to begin a process of improving the quality in the Unit, knowing users’ capability to co-participate and co-manage.