Medical laboratory accreditation status and associated factors in selected private and government health facilities of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction: quality medical laboratory service(s) is a key to patient safety with a great emphasis on medical diagnoses and treatment. ISO 15189 laboratory accreditation is an effective way to demonstrate competency. Despite the benefits, there are considerable exigent efforts towards achieving its target, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, determining those factors that hinder laboratory quality services and the process of accreditation is important to address and resolve. Thus, this study aimed to assess medical laboratory accreditation process and in selected private and government health facility laboratories in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Methods: institutional-based cross-sectional study design was conducted in Addis Ababa from July 1 to August 30, 2018. Data was entered into EPI-data version 3.1 and analyzed by SPSS version 23. Data from focus group discussions were categorized and discussed thematically. Additionally, logistic regression analyses were computed to examine the relationship between the explanatory and response variable.

Results: a total of 411 professionals participated in this study, of which 117(28.8%) participants were female, 280 (68.2%) participants with a bachelor´s degree, and 352 (85.6%) participants had information about accreditation. The current laboratory accreditation status in Addis Ababa is 3.6%. The primary identified factors were gaps related to method verification/validation, equipment calibration, and continual program quality improvement.

Conclusion: strengthening laboratory management standards towards accreditation (SLMTA) will significantly improve the accreditation process. However, there are internal and external factors may hinder the current accreditation process. Therefore, all responsible agencies/services should give more attention to solving those identified major barriers to achieving accreditation.