[Evaluation of a program monitoring the quality of the services provided by a non-governmental organization]. / Evaluación de un programa de monitoría de la calidad de los servicios otorgados por una Organización no Gubernamental.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of a quality-monitoring program on the occurrence of sentinel events and on attitudes and behaviors of personnel's responses in a Non-Governmental-Organization (NGO). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between 1998 and 1999, a quasi-experimental design of the before-after type was conducted in 13 NGO clinics. Analysis of changes in attitudes and behaviors consisted in differences of means and analysis of variance between groups. RESULTS: The number of sentinel events decreased from 32 events detected before the quality-monitoring program to only 2 after it. Attitudes and behaviors improved, with differences of means of +1.1 and +1.2 (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The quality-monitoring program achieved the expected effects. It is noteworthy that attitudes and behaviors to prevent the occurrence of sentinel events were more prevalent after the intervention.