[Quality control in primary health care. I - Consumer satisfaction]. / Controle de qualidade em atenção primária à saúde. I - A satisfação do usuário.

In this paper, the first of a series dealing with the development of a methodology for assessing quality of ambulatory care, a sample of 270 outpatients from the same health center were presented with a list of 12 questions. Although different versions of the questionnaire were tested, we found a high degree of agreement between the results. The findings indicate that the parameter "satisfaction" lends itself readily to measurement, thus becoming a useful instrument for guiding active intervention.