[Quality management in a public health agency].

This article describes the introduction of quality improvement actions in a public health organization. After ISO 17025 accreditation, which was legally mandated, was granted to the official control laboratory, the management decided to expand a quality policy in 2003, through a series of actions based on process analysis and proposals for improvement, further definition of standard operating procedures, exploration of users' opinions, the creation of improvement groups, and external audits or certification. The organizational response to these initiatives was diverse.

[Indicators for the management of public health services].

Objectives: To define a set of indicators for the management of the various services of an agency responsible for comprehensive public health in a defined area and population.

Methods: We analyzed the agency's activity and held discussions with those responsible for the distinct services to define indicators whose estimation is viable and which optimally describe three aspects: the services' activity, coverage, quality or effectiveness, and cost.

Results: Quantitative indicators were defined for all the productive public health services inventoried in the agency's services portfolio, but not all three aspects could be covered in all areas.

[Quality evaluation in public health: the case of an animal shelter].

Objective: There is growing interest in integrating quality approaches to the management of public services. The aim of the present study was to develop a comprehensive evaluation of service quality in the animal shelter managed by the public health services of the city of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain).

Methods: An evaluation study with three components was performed.