title: Assessment of outpatient services for AIDS patients, Brazil: comparative study 2001/2007.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess Brazilian Unified Health System outpatient services delivering care to adults living with AIDS in 2007 and to compare with the assessment conducted in 2001.
  
  
  METHODS
  The 636 health services registered in the Ministry of Health in 2007 were invited to respond to a previously validated questionnaire (Qualiaids Questionnaire) with 107 multiple-choice questions about the organization of care delivery. It analyzed the frequencies of responses to the 2007 questionnaire compared with those found in that of 2001 through percent variation (PV).
  
  
  RESULTS
  504 (79.2%) of the services responded to the questionnaire. Almost 100.0% of the respondents reported having essential resources for outpatient care: having at least one doctor, sufficient supplies of antiretroviral drugs, CD4 and viral load tests. Many aspects displayed improvement in 2007 compared to 2001: registry of missed medical appointments (from 18.3 to 27.0%, PV: 47.5%), follow-up appointment within 15 days of starting antiretroviral treatment (from 55.3 to 66.2%, PV: 19.7%) and user's organized participation (from 5.9 to 16.7%, PV: 183.1%). However, some difficulties remained: little change in the availability of specialized exams, such as endoscopy, within 15 days, (31.9 to 34.5%, PV: 8.1%) and decreases in indicators such as optimal time access to specialized appointments (55.9 to 34.5% in cardiology, negative PV: 38.3%). Mean time spent in follow-up medical appointments remained low: about 15 minutes (52.5 to 49.5%, negative PV: 5.8%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 2007 assessment revealed that services have essential resources for ambulatory assistance. There was some improvement in many aspects compared to 2001, although some challenges still remain. Little time dedicated to medical appointments may be linked to insufficient number of doctors and/or due to reduced capacity of listening and dialogue. Impaired access to specialized appointments reveals the difficulty local Brazilian Unified Health System facilities have regarding infrastructure.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Preventiva, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. mibnemes@usp.br
authors.forename: Maria Ines Battistella
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Nemes
authors.forename: Tatianna Meirelles Dantas
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Alencar
authors.forename: Cáritas Relva
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Basso
authors.forename: Elen Rose Lodeiro
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Castanheira
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Melchior
authors.forename: Maria Teresa Seabra Soares de Britto e
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.forename: Joselita Maria Magalhães
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Caraciolo
authors.forename: Maria Altenfelder
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Santos
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000628:therapy*; D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001938:Brazil; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000628:therapy*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D009313:National Health Programs; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires