NDLI: Examination of patient flow in a rural health center in Malawi

Content Provider	Springer Nature : BioMed Central
Author	Jafry, M. A. Jenny, A. M. Lubinga, S. J. Larsen-Cooper, E. Crawford, J. Matemba, C. Babigumira, J. B.
Abstract	Background Malawi, like many low-income countries, is facing a severe health worker shortage. A potential stop-gap solution to this crisis is improving the efficiency of health center operations. Given the lack of research on center efficiency in rural health centers in Malawi, we conducted a study to identify deficiencies in center organization and barriers to patient flow. Methods We performed a time-motion survey at a rural health center in Ntaja, Malawi over a period of 1 week. We used a standardized questionnaire to collect information on the amount of time a patient spent with each health worker, the number of center staff that attended to each patient, and the total time spent at the center. Additionally, at the end of the visit, we conducted an exit survey to collect demographic information and data on perception of quality of care with the center visit for all patients. Results A total of 1018 patients were seen over the five-day study. The average total time spent at the center by the patients was 123 min (2–366 min). Adults had an average total time spent at the center of 111 min (2–366 min) and children 134 min (7–365 min). Patient waiting time (PWT) was higher in the early morning hours ranging from 157 min (between 06:00 and 08:00) to 53 min (between 14:00 and 16:00). Health worker contact time (HCT) was higher for adults (2.3 min) than children (1.7 min). Shorter wait times were associated with higher perceptions of quality of service. Conclusion Despite shortages in health workers and funds, opportunities are available to increase efficiency in rural health centers. By removing bottlenecks to increase the productivity of health workers, centers in low-income countries can treat more patients and improve service quality.
Related Links	https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13104-016-2144-x.pdf
Ending Page	6
Page Count	6
Starting Page	1
File Format	HTM / HTML
ISSN	17560500
DOI	10.1186/s13104-016-2144-x
Journal	BMC Research Notes
Issue Number	1
Volume Number	9
Language	English
Publisher	BioMed Central
Publisher Date	2016-07-25
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Biomedicine Medicine Public Health Life Sciences Health centers Malawi Rural Wait times Patient satisfaction Time-motion Patient flow Medicine/Public Health
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology Medicine
Journal Impact Factor	1.6/2023

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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