O uso dos indicadores na prática dos terapeutas ocupacionais em contextos hospitalares

Abstract

Introduction: Health indicators are parameters for monitoring the reality that guide the processes to improve results and help demonstrate the value of the practices provided, allowing professionals and organizations to monitor how well they have worked. Despite the relevance of this measuring device, especially in the context of hospitals, little has been portrayed and disseminated in the literature regarding its use in Occupational Therapy practices. Methodology: Study with a quantitative, descriptive and exploratory approach. Carried out through the creation of a structured online form, available via the Google Forms® virtual platform, containing about 90 mostly closed questions, divided into three axes: general identification of the participant; demand and information management and the personal-situational condition, being eligible to hospital OTs in the State of São Paulo. Data was analyzed using the R software, using three Mann-Whitney statistical tests; Phi and Cramer V coefficients, according to the nature of the variables. Results: It is verified the existence of the use of indicators in the practice of hospital OT, with greater association with professionals with attributions related to management and the CLT work regime, being the use of operational work routines (OWR) or the need for measurement of productivity variables important for this use. In addition, there were also significant variables for this use: feeling qualified, being trained, having heard about indicators and being specialized. Discussion: There is an association between the use of indicators by OT in hospital practices linked to meeting institutional administrative needs, identified by the trend of monitoring practices focused on measuring volume and the low assessment of the quality of care provided, such as measurement of the results of the practices (value). In addition, there is a deficit in the professionals' awareness and theoretical-technical training, which makes it possible to understand the importance of using effective quality measures to demonstrate the distinct value of Occupational Therapy in its broader contexts. The lack of use of objective measures weakens the hard core of OT and hinders the process of consolidating the profession. Conclusions: The use of indicators, in the practices of occupational therapists, is essentially linked to bureaucratic work and the need to measure productivity. The educational deficit on indicators is evidenced as a limiting factor for their use, resulting in the mistaken and biased use of these measures. The emerging need for permanent and continuous training, with a focus on this theme, is highlighted, so that OT professionals’ transit in thought and actions, to incorporate objective measures into practices, in view of the growing need to demonstrate the unique value of profession.