Assessment of quality of clinical laboratory service and clients’ satisfaction at public General Hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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Date
2013-12
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background: - Laboratory services are essential components in the diagnosis and treatment of
patients infected with a variety of diseases. The laboratory infrastructure and quality remain in its
nascent stages in most countries in Africa which demanded strengthening them. There are
limited studies on quality of clinical laboratory services in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Objectives: - To assess quality of clinical laboratory services and clients satisfaction in public
general hospitals in Addis Ababa.
Methods:- A facility based quantitative study was conducted using two study instruments. The
WHO-AFRO accreditation tool was used to measure the quality standard according to the WHO-
AFRO score. Service quality descriptive measures were used to measure quality. On the other
hand, customers’ satisfaction was measured using 422 clients’ exit interview in five public
general hospital laboratories. Sampling proportionate to size technique was employed.
Descriptive summary measures and odds ratio along with 95% CI in binary logistic regression
was used to measure magnitude and association respectively.
Results:- The mean score of all five public general hospital laboratories in the observational
study using WHO/AFRO accreditation checklist were 65.5%, and ranked as two stars. Whereas
only 47.6% of the respondents perceived the clinical laboratory service as good quality or
satisfied. Politeness and willingness of health providers,(66.1%). Professionals’ neatness and
physical appearance, (61.2%)were better attributes in clients’ satisfaction. However, clients
were highly dissatisfied by cleanliness of latrine, (47.6 %) and turnaround time, (30.5 %)of the
results.
Conclusion: - The quality of laboratories in public hospitals of Addis Ababa were found to be
much less than WHO/AFRO international accreditation quality standards. And satisfaction rate
of clients was also low. The satisfaction was found to be much lower in turnaround time and
cleanliness of latrines in laboratories.
Recommendations: - The Regional Government and Regional Office of laboratory coordinators
should take measures to enhance quality of clinical laboratory services within the public general
hospitals. In service trainings should also be availed to laboratory personnel. Continuous
monitoring of laboratory services should be done to achieve full accreditation and maximum
patient satisfaction. The Ethiopian Health Sector Development Program should have targets with
regards to laboratory quality improvement. Detailed studies should also be done at national level.
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Keywords
Clinical laboratory service , clients’ satisfaction