Measuring the quality of primary health care: A regional initiative in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Background: Quality and patient safety are essential for the provision of effective health care services. Research on these aspects is lacking in settings of extreme adversity. Aims: This study aimed to explore the perception of health care stakeholders working in extreme adversity settings of the quality of health care and patient safety. Methods: This was a qualitative study conducted through semistructured interviews with 26 health care stakeholders from seven countries of the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Region which are experiencing emergencies. The interviews explored the respondents’ perspectives of four aspects of quality and patient safety: definition of the quality of health care, challenges to the provision of good quality health care in emergency settings, priority health services and populations in emergency settings, and interventions to improve health care quality and patient safety. Results: The participants emphasized that saving lives was the main priority in extreme adversity settings. While all people living in emergency situations were vulnerable and at risk, the respondents considered women and children, poor and disabled people, and those living in hard-to-reach areas the priority populations to be targeted by improvement interventions. The challenges to quality of health care were: financing problems, service inaccessibility, insecurity of health workers, break down in health systems, and inadequate infrastructure. Respondents proposed interventions to improve quality, however, their effective implementation remains challenging in these exceptional settings. Conclusions: The interventions identified can serve as a basis for improvements in health care quality that could be adapted to extreme adversity settings.

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Client characteristics and satisfaction with the quality of primary health-care services in Calabar, Nigeria

Calabar Journal of Health Sciences ◽

10.25259/cjhs_4_2019 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

H. C. Okeke ◽

P. Bassey ◽

O. A. Oduwole ◽

A. Adindu

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Primary Health Care ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Client Satisfaction ◽

Demographic Characteristics ◽

Care Providers ◽

Client Characteristics ◽

Study Objective ◽

Primary Health

Different mix of clients visit primary health care (PHC) facilities, and the quality of services is critical even in rural communities. The study objective was to determine the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and client satisfaction with the quality of PHC services in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria. Specifically to describe aspects of the health facilities that affect client satisfaction; determine the health-care providers’ attitude that influences client satisfaction; and determine the socio-demographic characteristics that influence client satisfaction with PHC services. A cross-sectional survey was adopted. Ten PHCs and 500 clients utilizing services in PHC centers in Calabar Municipality were randomly selected. Clients overall satisfaction with PHC services was high (80.8%). Divorced clients were less (75.0%) satisfied than the singles and the married counterparts (81%), respectively. Clients that were more literate as well as those with higher income were less satisfied, 68.0% and 50.0%, respectively, compared to the less educated and lower-income clients, 92.0% and 85.0% respectively. These differences in satisfaction were statistically significant (P = 0.001). Hence, it was shown that client characteristics such as income and literacy level show a significant negative relationship with the clients satisfaction with the quality of PHC services in Calabar Municipality.

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Evaluating the Quality of Primary Health Care Services in Babylon Governorate, Iraq

10.36295/asro.2020.23933 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 23 (09) ◽

Author(s):

Qasem Abood Kareem ◽

Suhir Mohammed Alalawe

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Primary Health Care ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Care Services ◽

Primary Health ◽

Primary Health Care Services

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Quality of life and adherence to mediterranean diet among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients of a primary health care clinic in Hebron city, Palestine

Mediterranean Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism ◽

10.3233/mnm-200515 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Manal Badrasawi ◽

May Hamdan ◽

Mohammad Al Tamimi

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Diabetes Mellitus ◽

Health Care ◽

Primary Health Care ◽

Mediterranean Diet ◽

Well Being ◽

Care Clinic ◽

Primary Health Care Clinic ◽

Primary Health

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a lifelong metabolic disease with a high rate of mortality and morbidity. Uncontrolled and untreated diabetes results in serious complications that subsequently cause patients’ quality of life (QoL) to deteriorate. Adherence to Mediterranean diet (MD) may relieve the complications of diabetes, thereby improving the quality of life for these patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the QoL of DM patients who adhered to MD. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we examined the QoL and MD data of 106 DM II patients being treated at a primary health care clinic in Hebron. We used the SF-36 questionnaire to measure the patients’ QoL and the MEDAS tool to assess their MD adherence. We also recorded their anthropometric measurements, abdominal obesity, lifestyle habits and blood biochemical results. RESULTS: The sample comprised male and female DM II patients between the ages of 35 and 72, with their mean age being 55.8±10.24. Patients’ QoL scores showed a significant relationship with three BMI categories, i.e., total QoL score, physical function, and pain domains (p < 0.05). In terms of diet, high adherence to MD had a positive impact on all domains and on patients’ total QoL with significant differences in physical functioning, emotional well-being, social functioning and pain domains. CONCLUSION: Patients’ QoL domains were relatively low and highly affected by DM II. Patients with greater MD adherence reported higher scores in all QoL domains. Significantly higher scores were noted for the physical, social and pain domains. Hence, MD is a recommended dietary pattern for DM II patients to achieve a better QoL.

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