Time of Exercise as Indicator of Quality Control in Ergometry Services

BACKGROUND: The search for quality requires assessment tools in the various subdivisions of a health complex. In diagnostic medicine, they are scarce and in ergometry suggestions of indicators were not found. OBJECTIVE: To establish indicator for quality control on ergometry based on III Guidelines of the Brazilian Cardiology Society About Ergometric Test; to verify the percentage of tests that have presented the indicator within the compliance in two services of the same institution before and after the publication of the document. METHODS: A critical analysis of the guidelines in the search for indicator that would present: accuracy, reliability, simplicity, validity, sensitivity and ability to quantitatively measure the variations in the behavior of quality criteria and that would be applicable to all tests. The indicator was applied in tests of 2010 and 2011 prior to the publication, and after it was adopted by two services of the same institution. RESULTS: The indicator that has met the criteria was the percentage of ergometric tests with exercise duration between 8 and 12 minutes. In the years 2010 and 2011, respectively, the percentage of ergometric tests within compliance were 85.5% and 86.1% (p = 0.068) at the General Hospital, and 81.5% and 85.7% (p <0.001) the Service of Periodic Health Assessment. CONCLUSION: The exercise time between 8 and 12 minutes can be used as a quality criterion in ergometric and services where it was applied, at least 80% of the ergometric tests were compliant.