Browsing by Author "Wakuma, Tamirat"

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    Assessment of Factors Affecting Quality of Clinical Laboratory Service in Health Facilities at South West Shewa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia.
    (Addis Abeba University, 2021-01) Wakuma, Tamirat; Hassen, Fatuma(MPH, PhD Candidate); Molla, Habtamu(MSc, PhD candidate); Tsegaye, Aster(MSc, PhD)
    Background: A quality medical laboratory service is an important part of the health care system. Commitment of the health personnel, administration and policy makers contribute to the continuous improvement of diagnosis. In developing countries like Ethiopia, the laboratory quality system remains weak due to several factors. Therefore, assessing the factors affecting quality of medical laboratory service is highly important in order to improve service quality. Objective: To assess factors affecting the quality of medical laboratory service in South West Shewa Zone Health Facilities, Oromia, Ethiopia, January 2020 to May 2020. Methods: An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted at South West Shewa Zone Health Facilities from January 2020 to May 2020. A pretested, structured questionnaire and checklist was used to collect the socio-demographic information of the study participants and to assess factors affecting the provision of quality medical laboratory services. Data were checked for completeness, entered, and analyzed using SPSS version 24. The strength of association between the dependent and independent variables was assessed using binary and multiple logistic regression analysis. A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 85 medical laboratory professionals participated in the study. Of these, 68 (80%) were males and 27 (31.8%), were laboratory technologists. Of them 78 (91.8%) were not satisfied with their salary. Thirty-two (37.6%) of the participants reported that their laboratory did not provide quality laboratory service. Lack of Quality Manual, Lack of staff recognition and not conducting Internal Quality control activitieswere the major factors significantly associated with poor quality laboratory service (p < 0.05).High work load was identified as the highest technical factor influenced the provision of quality laboratory services 56.1%, followed by Equipment Failure 20% and from administrative factors shortage of resources was rated highest 39% followed by poor staff commitment 23.4%. Conclusions:More thanOne third of the study participants reported that their laboratory did not provide quality laboratory services. Lack of quality manual, not conducting internal quality control activities and Lack of staff recognitionare the major factors associated with poor quality of laboratory services. Hence timely intervention of these factors is warranted since a third of the participants believe their laboratory does not provide quality service.