Quality of care: the patients’ perspective (a case study of Mampong District Hospital in the Sekyere West District, Ashanti Region, Ghana)
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Date
2003-11-28
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Abstract
Improving quality of care is one of the pillars of the reforms that the Health Sector has embarked on since 1990. A number of initiatives have been started to improve quality of care and to make health service delivery client focused. Among these is the implementation of quality assurance programmes at the levels of service delivery.
A quality assurance programme has been developed in the Ashanti Region and Mampong District Hospital is one of the facilities that have been involved in the programme.
The main purpose of the study was to; assess the extent to which the patient perspective of quality of care featured in quality assurance programme being implemented at the Mampong District Hospital and to make recommendations.
The study was a cross-sectional type using quantitative research methods.
Individual interviews with patients and management were the main techniques used for data collection.
Management understanding of QA concepts was good but its commitment to QA activities was unsatisfactory.
The most important expectations of patients were
• To be provided with services when money is not available.
• Health workers to be courteous to them.
• To be granted privacy during consultations.
Accessibility, interpersonal relationship, technical competence and amenities which constitute some aspects of dimensions of quality were studied.
Majority of the patients interviewed were satisfied with the interpersonal relationship. Some aspects of technical skills of health workers were found to be unsatisfactory.
It is recommended that training should be organised for all health workers to improve upon their job performance.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Community
Health, School of Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the award of MSc.degree in Health Services Planning and Management, 2003