Applicability of the Servqual Scale for Analyzing the Perceived Quality of Public Health Services during the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Municipality of Tres Rios/RJ, Brazil
Lucas Alves de Oliveira Lima, Paulo Lourenco Domingues, Robson Tavares da Silva
Abstract
At the end of 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) signaled the emergence of a new virus in Hubei province, in Wuhan, China.Following this, the news gained worldwide prominence and, in March 2020, a global health emergency was declared with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic.The new coronavirus spread rapidly between countries, causing implications in various sectors of society, especially in the health sector (Froes, 2020).The pandemic has helped to highlight the failings of health systems in various countries, thus demonstrating the need for investment in infrastructure and resources to deal with public health emergencies on a global scale.In Brazil, working conditions were further aggravated by the precarious infrastructure of the work environment, the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), excessive working hours and the lack of training for professionals working on the front line to combat the virus (Rodrigues; Silva, 2020).According to data from the National Council of Health Secretaries (CONASS), in March 2021 the country reached a record of 12,766 people on the waiting list for an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed, which highlighted the lack of infrastructure and resources available to deal with the growing demand for critically ill patients due to Covid-19.In addition, several Brazilian states, such as Amazonas and Rio de Janeiro, even recorded more than 90% occupancy of ICU beds for patients infected with the new coronavirus.