Background: Knowing customers' level of satisfaction is relevant to improve and provide quality health care services. In the clinical laboratory, monitoring customers' satisfaction is an important indicator of the quality management system and required by international laboratory standards. However, in Ethiopia, there has not been baseline data about the satisfaction level of patients' with laboratory services at the national level. The aim of this national level survey was to assess patients' satisfaction level with laboratory services at public hospitals in Ethiopia. Methods: A national survey was conducted using an institutional based cross-sectional study design was employed from 01 to 30 November 2017. A total of 2399 patients were selected randomly from 60 public hospitals. Data was collected using structured questionnaire, entered in Epi Info and analyzed with SPSS software. Multiple logistic regression model was fitted to identify predictors of patients' satisfaction with laboratory services. A p-value of less than 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Result: Overall, 78.6% of the patients were satisfied with the clinical laboratory services. Patients were dissatisfied with cleanness of latrine (47%), long waiting time (30%), clear and understandable advisory service during specimen collection (26%), adequacy of waiting area (25%), easy accessibility of laboratory (19%) and latrine location (20%), availability of requested service (18%), unfair payment of service (17%) and missing of result (12%). The educational status (P = 0.032), and distance (P = 0.000) were significantly associated with client overall satisfaction level. Conclusion: Most laboratory patients' were satisfied with the service provided by public hospital laboratories in public hospitals in Ethiopia. However, patients' were dissatisfied with the accessibility of sites, adequacy of waiting area, cleanness of latrine, long TAT, communication, missing of results, availability of requested service and cost of service. Therefore, responsible bodies in each level should act on the identified gaps and improve the need of patients in each hospital laboratory. In addition, all hospital laboratories should conduct a satisfaction survey and meet the needs of laboratory patients.

IntroductionPhysician is a central figure in the client list of clinical laboratory. Monitoring physicians' satisfaction with laboratory service is an important indicator of the quality management system and required by international laboratory standards. However, there is no national data on physician satisfaction with laboratory services in Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this national survey was to assess satisfaction level of physicians with laboratory services at public hospitals in Ethiopia. MethodsInstitutional based cross-sectional study design was employed from November 1-30/2017. A total of 327 physicians were randomly selected from 60 public hospitals from all regions of Ethiopia. Data was collected using pre-tested self-administered questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS version 23 software. Logistic regression model was fitted to identify predictors of physician satisfaction with laboratory services. A p-value of less than 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. ResultsOverall, 55% of physicians were satisfied with the clinical laboratory services. More than half of the physicians were satisfied with the existing laboratory request form (69%), legibility and completeness of laboratory report (61%), notification of new test (78%) and test interruption (70%). On the other hand, many physicians were dissatisfied with the absence of laboratory hand book (87.5%), the existing test menu (68%), lab-physician interface (62%), availability of referral and/or back up service (62%), notification of Turn Around Time (TAT) (54%), timely notification of panic result (55%), long TAT (33.1%), provision of urgent service (67%), and timely advisory service (57%). Most of the physicians perceived that

BackgroundStrengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA) is a competency-based management training programme. Assessing health professionals’ views of SLMTA provides feedback to inform program planning, implementation and evaluation of SLMTA's training, communication and mentorship components.ObjectivesTo assess laboratory professionals’ and hospital chief executive officers’ (CEOs) perceptions and attitudes toward the SLMTA programme in Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted in March 2013 using a structured questionnaire to collect qualitative data from 72 laboratory professionals and hospital CEOs from 17 health facilities, representing all regions and two city administrations in Ethiopia. Focus groups were conducted with laboratory professionals and hospital administration to gain insight into the strengths and challenges of the SLMTA programme so as to guide future planning and implementation.ResultsEthiopian laboratory professionals at all levels had a supportive attitude toward the SLMTA programme. They believed that SLMTA substantially improved laboratory services and acted as a catalyst for total healthcare reform and improvement. They also noted that the SLMTA programme achieved marked progress in laboratory supply chain, sample referral, instrument maintenance and data management systems. In contrast, nearly half of the participating hospital CEOs, especially those associated with low-scoring laboratories, were sceptical about the SLMTA programme, believing that the benefits of SLMTA were outweighed by the level of human resources and time commitment required. They also voiced concerns about the cost and sustainability of SLMTA.ConclusionThis study highlights the need for stronger engagement and advocacy with hospital administration and the importance of addressing concerns about the cost and sustainability of the SLMTA programme.

Mothers' healthcare seeking behavior is a mother's response for sign and symptoms of her child illnesses to reduce severity, complication or even death after she recognized child's illness and if she reported visiting any health institutions. Healthcare seeking behavior of mothers or care givers for common childhood illness of under-five children in Kimbibit District, Ethiopia was assessed in this study. A community based cross-sectional study with mixed method approach was employed. Face to face interview for quantitative and focus group discussion for qualitative study were employed. Inductive thematic analysis was employed for qualitative data. For quantitative part, data was checked, cleaned, coded and entered into Epi Data version 3.1 and then, exported to SPSS version 20. Bivariable analysis was done and variables with p-value< 0.25 on bivariate analysis were entered to multivariable logistic regression model. Significance was checked at 95% CI with p<0.05. A total of 596 respondents with a response rate of 98.8% were participated in the study. The overall healthcare seeking behavior of mothers or care givers for common childhood illness was 87.5% (95% CI: 84.2%, 90.6%). Being urban residents (AOR=2.89; 95% CI=1.83-6.74), child's age 12 to 23 months (AOR=5.03; 95% CI=1.55-9.28), mothers who completed primary school (AOR=4.60: 95% CI; 3.21-6.53), median monthly family income ≥1000 ETB (AOR=4.53; 95% CI; 3.63-9.26), perceived severity of illness (AOR=2.58; 95% CI; 0.79-7.33) and distance from health facilities (AOR=6.59; 95% CI; 2.43-11.85) were the significant predictors of mothers' healthcare seeking behavior for; common childhood illnesses. In this study; it was revealed that healthcare seeking from health facilities was delayed. Place of residence, educational status of mothers or care givers, child's age, average monthly income of family, perceived severity of illness and distance from health facilities were independent predictors of healthcare seeking behaviors.

BackgroundTuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis. According to the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health’s 2013–2014 report, the tuberculosis case detection rate was 53.7%, which was below the target of 81% set for that year.ObjectiveThis study assessed the performance of tuberculosis smear microscopists at external quality assessment rechecking laboratories in Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at 81 laboratories from April to July 2015. Panel slides were prepared and validated at the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory. The validated panel slides were used to evaluate the performance of microscopists at these laboratories compared with readers from the reference laboratory.ResultsA total of 389 external quality assessment rechecking laboratory microscopists participated in the study, of which 268 (68.9%) worked at hospitals, 241 (62%) had more than five years of work experience, 201 (51.7%) held Bachelors degrees, and 319 (82%) reported tuberculosis smear microscopy training. Overall, 324 (83.3%) participants scored ≥ 80%. Sensitivity for detecting tuberculosis bacilli was 84.5% and specificity was 93.1%. The overall percent agreement between participants and reference readers was 87.1 (kappa=0.72). All 10 slides were correctly read (i.e., scored 100%) by 80 (20.6%) participants, 156 (40.1%) scored 90% – 95%, 88 (22.6%) scored 80% – 85% and 65 (16.7%) scored below 80%. There were 806 (20.7%) total errors, with 143 (3.7%) major and 663 (17%) minor errors.ConclusionThe overall performance of participants in reading the slides showed good agreement with the reference readers. Most errors were minor, and the ability to detect tuberculosis bacilli can be improved through building the capacity of professionals.