title: [The operation of the health program SICALIDAD: the role of managers in primary care and hospitals].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize the role of quality managers in health care units and health districts, identifying the constraints they experience in their performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  An interview guide and a questionnaire were carried out and were applied to quality managers in nine states as well as in Mexico CityÂ´s Health Services, in a Reference Federal Hospital and in a National Institute of Health. These instruments were analyzed using SPSS and Atlas.ti software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The activities done by the managers depend on the organizational level of services, which can be a care unit or the health jurisdiction. For each of these, we identified different order constraints that affect the performance of the role of management in the strategies to improve the quality of the services for population without social insurance, which together make up the government program called Integrated Quality Health System. Jurisdictional managers are the link between care units and state authorities in the management of information, while the medical units' managers drive operational strategies to improve the quality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the health program is implemented with the personal and infrastructure of the health system, it requires a greater institutionalization and strengthening of its structure and integration, as well as greater human and material resources.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México, DF, México. jcosme@correo.xoc.uam.mx
authors.forename: José Arturo
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Granados-Cosme
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tetelboin-Henrion
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Torres-Cruz
authors.forename: Dayana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pineda-Pérez
authors.forename: Blanca Margarita
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Villa-Contreras
mesh_terms: D006739:Hospital Administration / Q000592:standards*; D008800:Mexico; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*