Quality assessment of hospital care in Brazil: a systematic review

Quality assessment of hospital services has drawn growing international attention, driven by demand from funders, providers, practitioners, and patients. The objective of this study was to review the literature on hospital quality assessment in Brazil and analyze the main approaches, methodologies, and indicators used in the studies. The research design was a systematic literature review of scientific articles and doctoral and Master's theses published from 1990 to 2011. The review identified 2,169 documents, and 62 were included in the review, representing 48 separate studies. Most studies used secondary data and analyzed effectiveness, adequacy, safety, and efficiency, emphasizing the application of mortality rate, adequacy rate, adverse events rate, and length of stay. Methods to control differences in patient risks were mostly applied. This review identified central elements for both the development of this theme and the improvement of hospital care in Brazil.