Perceived Quality of Tuberculosis Treatment Services From Patient Perspectives in Selected TB Management Units, Mogadishu-Somalia.

Abstract

Observing quality from the patient's perspective is of paramount importance for making the service more responsive to patients. However, little is known about the quality of tuberculosis treatment service from the patient's perspective in Mogadishu. Objectives: The specific objective of this study is to determine the patients’ perspective on the quality of TB treatment services focusing on all 9 key quality dimensions in selected TB Management Units in Mogadishu- Somalia. Methodology: A facility-based, cross-sectional study design was employed, and data were collected in May 2018 using A QUOTE-TB tool validated for three East African countries from a sample of 177 tuberculosis patients receiving treatments at Benadir hospital TB Unit and Finsom TB center. The number of TB patients included in the interview was all TB registered patients that were taking TB medicines More than 3 weeks, elder than 18 years after accepting oral informed consent. Analyses were performed using SPSS version 20 and Excel, QI-score value greater than 0.75 represents low performance score and QI-score value less than 0.75 represents high performance score. Results: Majority of the respondents were male between 18-28 years of age non-educated and un-employed. The quality dimensions that needed improvement were availability and accessibility of TB treatment services, communication and information, support, patient-provider interaction and infrastructure of TB facilities.

High quality impact scores of TB care included affordability, stigma, HIV test and professional competence these dimensions not needed quality improvement, There were notable differences between TB patients 'expectations and what they actually received in terms of accommodation, availability of TB services, patient-provider interactions, health information, and communication, which were identified as being of inadequate quality. Conclusion: Significant effort is needed to improve the quality of TB care with respect to these particular aspects from the perspectives of patients. Individuals caring for patients with TB in the health service should address these areas that were inadequately performing.