[Indicators of quality for medical records and ambulatory care in Maringá (state of Paraná, Brazil), 1991: an exercise in evaluation].

This study sought to establish health-care quality indicators based on data from routine clinical records produced by the Municipal Health Department in Maringá, Paraná State. Records for 7813 patients seen in the month of October 1991 at three Integrated Health Centers (IHC) were assessed to determine whether the recorded information allowed for the formulation of quality indicators. Indicators of data quality, demand, coverage, resolubility, and geographic distribution of the clientele by IHC were formulated. Some 49.7% of records had no diagnostic hypothesis, and 14.8% of recorded diagnoses were illegible, 78% of visits were by residents of the IHC's cachement areas; there was a low estimated coverage of pre-natal care of 37%; an estimated 70% of children under one year of age residing in the area were seen during the month; patients seen in October 1991 had a mean of 3 physician visits per person during the preceding year and 4.3% of records specified a referral to another service. Patient records in the centers studied are precarious as information services for either routine internal use or external evaluation. In spite of these deficiencies, it was possible to extract some indicators of quality; however, significant improvements in recording are needed to support more in-depth evaluation.