Hearing Health indicators in the State of Minas Gerais : a study by macroregionPURPOSE: Analysis of the organization of the Hearing Health Care Network of the State of Minas Gerais in 2009 using as reference the user flow/care indicators, system management (targets), procedure configuration and reference teams. METHODS: Study of quantitative and cross-sectional analytical approach, considering five core variables and nine supplementary variables to understand the organization of the Network in the health macro-regions. The data were obtained from the Outpatient Information System and through reports of the Secretary of Health of the State of Minas Gerais. A descriptive analysis of the variables was made and the Pearson correlation coefficient and Student t test were used to verify the correlation between them. RESULTS: It was observed that among the macro-regions there was a variation in the behavior of the analyzed indicators, whereby some Hearing Health Care Units (HHCU) seem to assume the services of other regions. Statewide, the average value of sessions of speech therapy per patient with Hearing aid (HA) in the macro-regions was 10. However, the average therapy production was lower than the average HA adaptation in most of the macro-regions. The great demand for adaptation seems to guide the organization of the services, which has favored the adaptation and not the follow-up, through personal therapy sessions. CONCLUSION: It is believed that the greatest challenge of the Hearing Health Care Network of the State of Minas Gerais is to strengthen the longitudinal dimension of care, mainly through a decentralized speech therapy service, in order to improve the efficiency of the services.
Speech, Language and Hearing Science; Health Status Indicators; Program Evaluation; Public Policies; Quality Indicators, Health Care; Hearing