MJM, Vol 70 Supplement 1 September 2015
Perception on quality of service of health clinic
in Sarawak
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Malaysia Sarawak
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The health state of a nation depends on the quality of their primary care. This study was designed to assess the quality of health clinics in Sarawak from the patients and providers perspectives.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among patients and health clinic providers from 33 health clinics in Sarawak using modified Primary Care Assessment Tools (PCAT) and Primary Care Assessment Tool-Short Version Provider Survey (PCAT-PS). Multistage purposive sampling method was used.
Results: A total of 1520 patients and 507 staff participated in this study. Type 3 health clinic was found to have low quality score compared to type 4 and 5 health clinic (p<0.05). From Multiple Linear Regression, factors associated with patient quality score were self-rated health status, regular site of care, physical or mental health problem, duration of care and other non-modifiable factors, i.e. age, gender and occupation (p<0.05). Whereas, factors influencing provider quality score were number of patient visit (p<0.001) and in-service training (p<0.0.5) and some non-modifiable factors such as age (p<0.05), designation (p<0.01), ethnicity (p<0.001), and gender (p<0.001). Comparison between patient and provider score was found be statistically significantly (p<0.05), with provider gave higher score compared to the patient.
Conclusion: Health clinic in Sarawak were rated good by both patients and staff except for type 3 health clinics. However, there is still room for improvement especially in first contact, ongoing and community oriented components, which received a low score from patient. These findings may be useful for policy making in planning for future expansion of health clinics especially in Sarawak by focusing more on first contact, ongoing care and community oriented component with the aims to increase the health status of patient.
Keywords: Health Clinic, Health Care, Primary Care, Quality
