The Pan-African Institute for Citizenship, Consumers and Development (CICODEV-Africa) conducted a survey on hospitality in health facilities in 2020, the second of its kind after the one conducted in 2015. The new study revealed that even if initiatives are being taken, the reception in hospitals is still not perfect.
The Pan-African Institute for Citizenship, Consumers and Development (CICODEV-Africa) has been interested in the issue of reception in health services since October 2015 after patients complained about the language used by health care staff at the reception desk, the lack of hygiene and the difficulty of identifying the reception desks within health facilities. Patients and their companions have often complained about the quality of services provided to them. Yet, in January of 2014, the Ministry of Health and Social Action issued 11 directives addressed to all hospitals in the country. These included the establishment of a reception and emergency service in each hospital because the lack of an emergency reception desk can be a barrier to ensuring that patients respect the health pyramid and receive effective care under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Five years later, in 2020, another observation survey was conducted by CICODEV on the following critical points: traditional reception, receiving emergency patients, receiving hospitalized patients and the behavior of staff. The observation was carried out in 48 health facilities (including 15 hospitals, 18 health centers, and 15 health posts) in the 14 regions of Senegal. It involved 345 patients/caregivers and 48 reception staff. According to the study, 39.58% of the surveyed facilities did not have orientation panels with images; 29.17% of them did not have reception desks or were not identifiable, compared to 22% in 2015.
According to CICODEV Africa, overall, 10.42% of the facilities were not clean at the time of the visit compared to 18.5% in 2015. Still according to the survey, 25% of the facilities were reported to have bad odors compared to 29.6% in 2015. Even worse, 25% of public toilets in the structures were not clean at the time of the inspections compared to 30% in 2015. According to CICODEV, 18.75% of the toilets in the hospital wards were in a similar state of inappropriateness at the time of the on-site observations, compared to 26% in 2015.
ABSENCE OF EMERGENCY RECEPTION DESKS IN SURVEYED FACILITIES
The CICODEV study shows that 9 of the 33 hospitals and health centers surveyed do not yet have emergency reception desks, i.e. 27.27% compared to 41.17% in 2015. In 37.5% of the hospital wards, the beds were not in sufficient quantity while the sheets for 37.5% of the beds in the hospital wards were not clean. In one of the hospitals observed, the one in Sédhiou, there was no catering service.
The observational survey also revealed that 25.8% of patients/caregivers interviewed said they were afraid to go to a health facility because of the quality of the reception; this figure was 32.5% in 2015. At the same time, 21.74% reported experiencing favoritism from staff. In addition, 19.13% of respondents attested to having argued with reception staff due to poor behavior of the latter compared to 34% in 2015. A total of 54.17% of the observed facilities do not have a complaint system and more than half (56.25%) of the surveyed reception staff reported not having received reception training.
Compared to the situation in December of 2015, the analysis of the results of this 2020 study shows an improvement in classic reception except in the identification of reception desks, which still remains problematic in 29.17% of the structures visited. Emergency reception services have been gradually installed in the facilities since our first survey. However, the situation regarding the reception of hospitalized patients has not improved. The behavior of the staff towards patients and accompanying persons has certainly improved, but much remains to be done in this respect. Faced with the shortcomings reported, CICODEV recommends, among other things, the resumption of the catering service at the hospital in Sédhiou, to facilitate the orientation of users at the entrance to health facilities, particularly those who are illiterate, by adding pictures to the orientation signs.
Better yet, CICODEV adds, in order to optimize reception and emergency care during the Covid 19 pandemic, which is likely to be prolonged, it will be necessary to provide more than equipment, infrastructure, training and support for health workers. In order to do so, it is important to introduce or reinforce modules on professional ethics, on the concept of quality customer service, on the relationship of assistance and listening, and on the fair treatment of patients, in all the initial and ongoing training courses for health workers. It is also necessary, CICODEV recommends, to put in place a complaints system and to display the fees of the different services and those that are officially free in the health structures.
Source
FATOU NDIAYE
http://www.sudonline.sn/des-manquements-qui-persistent_a_51237.html