WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Sulene Pirana, Gabriel Zorron Cavalcanti, Marcela de Oliveira, Gabriela Marie Fukumoto, Elisa Maria de Oliveira Santos*, Mariana Moreno Tarifa and Michelly Macedo de Oliveira

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The results of screening programs in hospitals in Brazil studied in isolated studies demonstrate the great difficulty of implementing an effective program that reaches the proposed indicators. Objectives: To describe the implementation of the Universal Neonatal Hearing Screening program in the maternity ward and in Otorhinolaryngology service. Methods: The risk indicators found, the distribution according to gender, gestational age, age at the time of screening, and the number of failures in the various groups, between July 2014 and December 2015, were detailed. Results: Of the 3,155 born alive, 2,224 were screened (70.48% of the total). At baseline, the mean age of the triads was more than double the maximum recommended age (30 days of life). Six months after the introduction of the program, an average age of 20.63 was reached. A 6.3-fold higher probability of failure in children screened before the fifth day was found, and a high abstention rate of patients referred for retest (57%). Of those who attended, 43 failed, giving only 2.41% of failures among the triad. Conclusion: The study demonstrated the possibilities and adversities in implementing a TANU program in a service funded by the Brazilian Unified Health System. It was evident after months of the beginning of the program the increase of the index of triads and the improvement in the number of failures.