OBJECTIVES: to assess users' evaluation of the quality of health care provided at emergency services in Recife, in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil. METHODS: a cross-cutting descriptive study covering three major emergency services in the municipality: Hospital da Restauração, Hospital Getúlio Vargas and Hospital Otávio de Freitas. A survey was applied to 420 users (5% of the weekly attendance). Data was collected using this survey with closed questions, in an effort to determine the degree of association between the independent variables and the level of user satisfaction. RESULTS: the users surveyed were mostly young adults (46.7%), female (59.8%), with few schooling years (61.6%), working in the home or unemployed (62.3%), and living within the Recife Metropolitan Region (83%). Dissatisfaction with the conditions provided in hospitals (55.2%) was greater among those users with problems stemming from external causes at the Hospital da Restauração, (77.1%). The dimensions of quality that received the lowest evaluation were the comfort, 56%, and promptness 48.1%. CONCLUSIONS: the results show a critical evalua tion from the user's point of view. They also demon strate that there is a clear variation from hospital to hospital. A positive evaluation of staff performance constitutes some hope of improvement; although the other results show that there is still much to be done to improve the quality of care provided by emergency services.
Health evaluation; Emergency medical, services; Consumer satisfaction
