title: [Effectiveness assessment of public clinical laboratories: the case of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State].
abstract: The organization of public clinical laboratories is experiencing changes without, however, an organizational assessment of its effectiveness. The study aimed to determine a parameter of effectiveness for public clinical laboratories of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, and set cut-off points for the sections of these laboratories. In order to do so, the total production and number of hours worked during a period of 7 months in the year 2008 were consolidated. Due to the entrance of the workers in the mode of production in the laboratories network, it could be observed a variability regarding the performance of these workers. The effectiveness parameter of the network was established in 29.90 tests per hour. As a consequence of this first analysis, the cut-off points are: 15.50 for the hematology section; 67.29 for chemistry; 6.45 for parasitology; 11.35 for urinalysis; 4.94 for microbiology and 19.03 for immunology. From these results, it was concluded that the working process in laboratories can generate a decrease in effectiveness.
authors.affiliation: Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG 30150-050. lsancho@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Leyla Gomes
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Sancho
authors.forename: José Muniz da Costa
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Vargens
authors.forename: Rafael Gomes
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Sancho
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards*; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D017150:Public Sector