Assessment of healthcare staff satisfaction with biochemistry laboratory services provided in teaching hospital Anuradhapura

Abstract

A customer satisfaction survey in clinical biochemistry is a process of review and assessment of laboratory performance. It is a major component of a quality management system. This, in turn, improves staff awareness, education, and training, prepares the laboratory for audits, and sets its own quality goals. The main goal of this study is to measure the level of satisfaction of medical officers and nursing staff who avail the laboratory service at the teaching hospital Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, and to identify the areas which need improvement. The outcome will ameliorate patient care through corrective actions to improve overall laboratory. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to evaluate the level of the subjective satisfaction of receivers of laboratory service. A whole hospital unit was considered as one sample; hence the sample size was limited to 50. A paper-based self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all the 50 hospital units. The collected data were analyzed using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Out of the 50 questionnaires, the response rate was 90%. The overall satisfaction with the Day- laboratory service was approximately 85%, in contrast to the 60±2% regarding the Night-laboratory. This is a 29.4% declining satisfaction. Respondents were satisfied with the range of tests performed and their accuracy. However, they were dissatisfied with the turnaround time for test results, especially during the night service. The responses in the open-ended section were primarily suggestions to improve the critical value notification and to extend the Day-laboratory service. In conclusion, staff were generally satisfied with the laboratory service provided for them. Turn-around time for results along with the overall functioning of the Night-laboratory received the lowest satisfaction. Therefore, corrective actions are required to meet the needs of the staff and to improve patient care through the overall improvement of the laboratory service.