Effectiveness of Laboratory Mentorship Practice and Associated Factor among Public Health Laboratories, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2020

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Date

2020-12

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Addis Abeba University

Abstract

Background: - Laboratory mentorship is proven effective tool in building capacity for laboratories in establishing quality management systems, and accreditations. In Ethiopia, specifically in Addis Ababa, only few governmental health institutions have good Strengthening Laboratory Management towards Accreditation (SLMTA)scoring. Thus, to increase the number of accredited Medical Laboratories, identification of challenges and strengthening the mentorship activities is crucial. Objective: To assess effectiveness of laboratory mentorship practice and associated factors among public health laboratories, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods:Facility based cross sectional study was conducted by collecting a secondary and primary data from selected government owned 62 health facility and 423 laboratory professionals, from January 1 to October 30, 2020 in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Simple random sampling technique used to select study participant medical laboratories facilities and medical laboratory professionals. A structured questionnaire was employed during data collection.The collected data enter and analysis by SPSS version 20 statistical software. “Multivariable logistic regression” was used to determine factors associated to effectiveness of laboratory mentorship practice. Result:From the total of 423 respondents,114of them (27%)stated that mentors were available regularly and frequently per schedule.Besides 123 (29.1%)respondents said that mentor spent more time with mentee during mentorship practice. During the study periods, among 62 health facilities on the follow up, majority48 (77.2%) of them had poor score (≤ 2 SLMTA grade), and only 14 (22.5%)heath institution had good score (≥3 SLMTA grade). Factors associated with poor mentorship practice includes, Lack of experience N=225/423 (53.2%), lack of accountability N=269/423 (63.6%)and lack of staff commitment N=272/423(64.3%), and all these factors had significant difference with P value of < 0.05. Conclusion:The present study showed that majority of medical laboratories had poor mentee and mentor relationships, which was reflected by poor SLIPTA score.Main factors affected effective laboratory mentorship practice includes lack of staff commitment, lack of experience, and lack of accountability. Therefore all stakeholder give due attention to establish effective laboratory mentorship practice, in order to improve the quality of medical laboratory services, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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Keywords

Laboratory mentorship, Quality management system, Accreditation

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