Health centres' view of the services provided by a university hospital laboratory: Use of satisfaction surveys

Figures & data

Table I. Distribution of responses to the statement exploring health centres' views of laboratory services in 2002 and 2006.

Statements assessed	Year	No. of answers	Strongly agree/agree n (%)	Neither agree nor disagree n (%)	Disagree/strongly disagree n (%)	p-value^1
1. Service attitude of the laboratory personnel is good	2002	27	23 (85%)	3 (11%)	1 (4%)
	2006	25	22 (88%)	1 (4%)	2 (8%)	0.703
2. Laboratory informs adequately of the changes in services	2002	29	25 (86%)	0 (0%)	4 (14%)
	2006	25	16 (64%)	7 (28%)	2 (8%)	0.006
3a. Laboratory Users' Handbook is suitable for use	2002	28	25 (89%)	2 (7%)	1 (4%)
	2006	25	18 (72%)	3 (12%)	4 (16%)	0.261
3b. Reference value booklet is suitable for use	2002	28	26 (93%)	2 (7%)	0 (0%)
	2006	24	14 (58%)	7 (29%)	3 (13%)	0. 009
4a. We are satisfied with electronic data transfer (test requests and results)	2002	7	2 (29%)	0 (0%)	5 (71%)
	2006	14	6 (43%)	2 (14%)	6 (43%)	0.523
4b. Paper request form is suitable for use	2002	15	11 (73%)	3 (20%)	1 (7%)
	2006	13	10 (77%)	0 (0%)	3 (23%)	0.247
5. The format of the result report is clear and readable	2002	27	23 (85%)	3 (11%)	1 (4%)
	2006	19	17 (90%)	0 (0%)	2 (10%)	0.285
6. The price of laboratory tests does not limit requesting	2002	25	15 (60%)	6 (24%)	4 (16%)
	2006	24	20 (83%)	2 (8%)	2 (8%)	0.214
7. Specimen transportation system is reliable and fast enough	2002	24	19 (79%)	1 (4%)	4 (17%)
	2006	23	20 (87%)	1 (4%)	2 (9%)	0.829
8. We do not need additional instructions
(a) on the preparation of patients for laboratory tests	2002	25	14 (56%)	4 (16%)	7 (28%)
	2006	24	14 (58%)	2 (8%)	8 (33%)	0.842
(b) on the collection and handling of samples	2002	25	15 (60%)	4 (16%)	6 (24%)
	2006	24	15 (63%)	2 (8%)	7 (29%)	0.837
9. We are satisfied with the laboratory physician's reports	2002	27	24 (89%)	3 (11%)	0 (0%)
	2006	21	17 (81%)	4 (19%)	0 (0%)	0.683
10. We rarely need to contact the laboratory because of
(a) delayed test results	2002	27	20 (74%)	3 (11%)	4 (15%)
	2006	24	16 (67%)	2 (8%)	6 (25%)	0.664
(b) erroneous test results	2002	27	25 (93%)	0 (0%)	2 (7%)
	2006	24	20 (83%)	3 (13%)	1 (4%)	0.203
11a. We are familiar with the frequency of analysis of different laboratory tests	2002	27	15 (56%)	3 (11%)	9 (33%)
	2006	25	12 (48%)	6 (24%)	7 (28%)	0.495
11b. The timeliness of the services of the laboratory meet our needs	2002	26	25 (96%)	1 (4%)	0 (0%)
	2006	24	21 (88%)	1 (4%)	2 (8%)	0.469
12. Laboratory's regional training courses have met our needs	2002	27	23 (85%)	2 (7%)	2 (7%)
	2006	25	17 (68%)	4 (16%)	4 (16%)	0.389

Note: ¹Statistical significance of change (p-value) tested by Fisher's exact test.

Table II. Classification of the most important problems in laboratory services based on responses to the open-ended question in 2002 and 2006.

	No. of responses
Nature of problems	2002	2006
Electronic transfer of laboratory test requests and reports not available	8	7
Problems in the electronic data transfer of laboratory test requests and reports	2	3
Problems in decentralized phlebotomy services for the outpatients of the university hospital	5	1
Differences in number codes of laboratory tests between health centres and the university hospital laboratory	2
Defects in specimen transportation	2	2
Delayed test results	1
Lacking test results	1
Test results to wrong patients	1
Low quality of printed results transmitted by fax	1
Misbehaviour in customer service	1	2
Insufficient availability of consultations	1	1
Laboratory's information sheets sent too late	1	1
Complexity in billing	1
Defects in information delivery in the university hospital laboratory		1
Unnecessary repeated test requesting by health centre		1
Total	27	19