Physicians satisfaction with the quality of laboratory services in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: Physicians order laboratory tests expecting to receive accurate and timely results to support the management of their patients but it is not known to what extent Jos University Teaching Hospital laboratories satisfy their physicians in this regard. This study sought to determine physician satisfaction with the quality of services provided by the hospital's laboratories.
Methods: A pre-tested semi-structured self- administered questionnaire was used to obtain information from sixty seven (67) physicians selected using a cluster sampling technique about their satisfaction with the quality of services provided by the hospital's laboratories. A semi- structured questionnaire was also used to collect information from Laboratory Managers on how they report test results of in-patients to the requesting physicians. Winpepi version 11.65 was used for statistical analysis. to test for the presence of relationship between respondents specialty and their level of satisfaction. A p- value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results:Three methods were used to transmit laboratory test results to the requesting physicians: Non-critical results were picked from the laboratory by the responsible doctors (66.6%) or the patient's relations (33.3%), or they were sent to the patients' ward through the laboratory support staff.
Only 6% of physicians were satisfied with the timeliness of reporting results (in- patient test turnaround time), and means of delivery of results to the requesting team. Just over a quarter (25.4 %) were satisfied with how samples are collected while 20.9% were satisfied with the technical quality/reliability of the results. There was no significant relationship between physician' specialty and their level of satisfaction with the laboratory services.
Conclusion:Physicians in Jos University Teaching Hospital are very dissatisfied with the timeliness and technical quality of the results received from the Hospital's laboratories. Laboratory managers and the Hospital management need to act urgently to improve quality and restore trust in the hospital's laboratories.