PREPARING FOR VANESSA'S LAW: COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE MEDICAL RECORDS AND PHARMACY DEPARTMENTS AT A CANADIAN HOSPITAL CENTER.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In the context of Vanessa's Law, the medical records department and the pharmacy team of a mother-child hospital collaborated to create a system for coding adverse drug reactions (ADRs). This study was conducted to validate the coding of ADRs by the medical records team. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective descriptive study covered 12 months of coding of hospitalization data by the medical records team (November 1, 2017, to October 31, 2018). The pharmacy team performed twice-monthly analysis to validate the ADR data, based on coded information for drugs and associated clinical manifestations. RESULTS: Over the 12-month study period, a total of 755 ADRs were coded by the medical records department (i.e., 2.1 ADRs per day, corresponding to 7.1% of admissions). For 34 (4.5%) of these ADRs, the pharmacy team made a change to the code originally assigned by the medical records department. Eighty-five (11.5%) of the coded ADRs were deemed serious, as defined by Health Canada, but only 13 (15%) of these serious ADRs were reported to the regulatory authority. The new process allowed clinical manifestation codes to be associated with individual drugs in the pharmacy's Med-Echo-Plus® software, which facilitated interpretation of the data. Following this study, coding practices were reviewed, a coding algorithm was developed, and the codes for 18 drugs were clarified. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the feasibility of establishing a link between the medical records and pharmacy departments to validate the coding of ADRs. At the study hospital, this linkage has identified serious ADRs, for which reporting will soon be required by Health Canada.

Use of mixed methods to investigate case definitions to improve the identification of serious injury cases from hospital episode data.

INTRODUCTION: It has been commonplace internationally, when using hospital data, to use the principal diagnosis to identify injury cases and the first external cause of injury code (E-code) to identify the main cause. Our purpose was to investigate alternative operational definitions of serious non-fatal injury to identify cases of interest for injury surveillance, both overall and for four common causes of injury. METHODS: Serious non-fatal injury cases were identified from New Zealand (NZ) hospital discharge data using an alternative definition: that is, case selection using principal and additional diagnoses. Separately, identification of cause used all E-codes on the discharge record. Numbers of cases identified were contrasted with those captured using the usual definition. Views of NZ government stakeholders were sought regarding the acceptability of the additional cases found using these alternative definitions. Views of international experts were also canvassed. RESULTS: When using all diagnoses there was a 7% increase in 'all injury' cases identified, a 17% increase in self-harm cases and 8% increase in falls cases. Use of all E-codes resulted in a 4% increase in self-harm cases, 2% increase in assault cases and 1% increase in both falls and motor vehicle traffic crash cases. DISCUSSION: A case definition based solely on principal diagnosis fails to count a material number of serious non-fatal injury cases that are of interest to the injury prevention community. There is a need, therefore, to use an alternative case definition that includes additional diagnoses. Use of multiple E-codes to classify cause of injury should be considered.

Estudio CURIE-2017: Nociones de los estudiantes del internado rotativo de medicina del Hospital Carlos Andrade Marín (Quito) con respecto al uso y aplicación de estudios imagenológicos / CURIE-2017 Study: Notions of the students of the rotating medical internship of the Carlos Andrade Marín Hospital (Quito) regarding the use and application of general imaging studies

La solicitud inadecuada de estudios médicos basados en imágenes es un problema en Ecuador y otros países. El estudio se realizó con el objetivo de establecer el nivel de conocimientos de 125 internos rotativos de un hospital de Quito, procedentes de varias universidades locales, en el uso de estudios imagenológicos. Ellos tuvieron en general un bajo desempeño en la prueba de conocimientos, por lo que se recomienda instaurar el uso de criterios más apropiados en la enseñanza de radiología en las universidades.

Wrong application of medical image studies is an issue in Ecuador and other countries. This study was done to stablish the level of knowledge on image studies of 125 fellows from several local universities working at a hospital in Quito. The results show low performance in the knowledge test, therefore recomendation is to establish better teaching criteria on radiology subject at Universities.

[The REVELA13 observatory to study new cases of bladder tumor among women living in Bouches-du-Rhône county]. / Rôle de l'observatoire REVELA13 dans l'épidémiologie des tumeurs de vessie des femmes dans les Bouches-du-Rhône.

INTRODUCTION: The REVELA13 observatory is a unique epidemiological tool listing the new cases of kidney tumors, bladder tumors and acute leukaemias in the Bouches-du-Rhône county (France). Aim was to exploit for the first time data from this observatory regarding new cases of bladder tumors≥T1 in women from 2012 to 2014. MATERIALS: This epidemiological study was observational and descriptive. Fifteen non-nominative variables from the REVELA13 database were analyzed in order to describe the clinical and pathological characteristics of the incident cases as well as their spatial and temporal distribution. The incidence rates expressed in new cases per year per 100000 inhabitants were standardized on the world age, calculated with 95 % confidence intervals and compared to national estimates for the same period. RESULTS: Incident bladder tumor cases were recorded in 291 women, corresponding to a standardized incidence on the world age of 3.85 [3.32-4.37] new cases per year per 100,000 population, 54 % higher than the national estimates of 2012 and 2015. Median age of diagnostic was 75.9 years. Sex ratio was 19.41 % (W/M). Tumors were predominantly non-muscle-invasive (52 %), high grade (69 %) and without associated carcinoma in situ (Cis) (49 %). The two most affected territories were Marseille and Aubagne-La Ciotat. CONCLUSION: The REVELA13 observatory has improved our epidemiological knowledge on female bladder tumors in Bouches-du-Rhône county and highlighted a local over incidence. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3.

[Who will kick off the digital transformation of health?] / Qui initiera la transformation digitale de la santé?

Over the past few years, numerous medical digital initiatives have blossomed, displaying tangible signs of efficacy in improving, for example, medication adherence or lifestyle. Such patient-centered solutions free themselves, at least conceptually, from the silos between the major players in healthcare (pharmaceutical industry, health authorities, hospitals, payers). The lack of a global rethinking of patient care has resulted in structural fragility. This could provide fertile ground for the arrival of players from the digital world, called "pure players", who could radically rethink and disrupt business models by proposing personalized digital solutions based on patients' needs. Thus, in the management of chronic disease, such as cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes, "pure players" could bring about a paradigm shift via a commitment to achieve results which are driven by real-world outcome assessment rather than being means-driven.

Assessment of US Hospital Compliance With Regulations for Patients' Requests for Medical Records.

Importance: Although federal law has long promoted patients' access to their protected health information, this access remains limited. Previous studies have demonstrated some issues in requesting release of medical records, but, to date, there has been no comprehensive review of the challenges that exist in all aspects of the request process. Objective: To evaluate the current state of medical records request processes of US hospitals in terms of compliance with federal and state regulations and ease of patient access. Design, Setting, and Participants: A cross-sectional study of medical records request processes was conducted between August 1 and December 7, 2017, in 83 top-ranked US hospitals with independent medical records request processes and medical records departments reachable by telephone. Hospitals were ranked as the top 20 hospitals for each of the 16 adult specialties in the 2016-2017 US News & World Report Best Hospitals National Rankings. Exposures: Scripted interview with medical records departments in a single-blind, simulated patient experience. Main Outcomes and Measures: Requestable information (entire medical record, laboratory test results, medical history and results of physical examination, discharge summaries, consultation reports, physician orders, and other), formats of release (pick up in person, mail, fax, email, CD, and online patient portal), costs, and request processing times, identified on medical records release authorization forms and through telephone calls with medical records departments. Results: Among the 83 top-ranked US hospitals representing 29 states, there was discordance between information provided on authorization forms and that obtained from the simulated patient telephone calls in terms of requestable information, formats of release, and costs. On the forms, as few as 9 hospitals (11%) provided the option of selecting 1 of the categories of information and only 44 hospitals (53%) provided patients the option to acquire the entire medical record. On telephone calls, all 83 hospitals stated that they were able to release entire medical records to patients. There were discrepancies in information given in telephone calls vs on the forms between the formats hospitals stated that they could use to release information (69 [83%] vs 40 [48%] for pick up in person, 20 [24%] vs 14 [17%] for fax, 39 [47%] vs 27 [33%] for email, 55 [66%] vs 35 [42%] for CD, and 21 [25%] vs 33 [40%] for online patient portals), additionally demonstrating noncompliance with federal regulations in refusing to provide records in the format requested by the patient. There were 48 hospitals that had costs of release (as much as $541.50 for a 200-page record) above the federal recommendation of $6.50 for electronically maintained records. At least 6 of the hospitals (7%) were noncompliant with state requirements for processing times. Conclusions and Relevance: The study revealed that there are discrepancies in the information provided to patients regarding the medical records release processes and noncompliance with federal and state regulations and recommendations. Policies focused on improving patient access may require stricter enforcement to ensure more transparent and less burdensome medical records request processes for patients.

Concordancia en la codificación clínica del Informe Estadístico en Hospitales Públicos en Tucumán, 2014-2015 / Agreement in Clinical Coding of Medical Records from Public Hospitals in Tucumán, 2014-2015

La información de morbilidad y epidemiología del informe estadístico de hospitalización (IEH) repercute en las estadísticas y en la toma de decisiones en salud. En 2013, el 71,8% (61 002) de los IEH fueron codificados inicialmente en seis servicios estadísticos hospitalarios públicos y controlados o recodificados posteriormente en un nivel central: el Departamento de Estadísticas de Salud de los Servicios (DESS) de la provincia de Tucumán. OBJETIVOS: Evaluar el grado de acuerdo alcanzado en codificación clínica de enfermedades y procedimientos quirúrgicos del IEH entre los codificadores hospitalarios y los del DESS entre septiembre de 2014 y junio de 2015. MÉTODOS: Se realizó un estudio de concordancia en codificación con muestreo aleatorio estratificado y afijación proporcional según producción hospitalaria. Se estimó el grado de acuerdo con el estadístico Kappa (K). RESULTADOS: Se evaluaron 2255 IEH. El 60,39% (1362) contenía codificado un segundo diagnóstico, y el 54,01% (1218), un procedimiento quirúrgico. El grado de acuerdo en la codificación entre el DESS y los hospitales fue: K=0,74 en el diagnóstico principal; K=0,61 en el segundo diagnóstico; y K=0,75 en procedimientos quirúrgicos. CONCLUSIONES: El grado de acuerdo en la codificación clínica del IEH fue bueno

Quantifying severe urinary complications after radical prostatectomy: the development and validation of a surgical performance indicator using hospital administrative data.

OBJECTIVES: To develop and validate a surgical performance indicator based on severe urinary complications that require an intervention within 2 years of radical prostatectomy (RP), identified in hospital administrative data. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Men who underwent RP between 2008 and 2012 in England were identified using hospital administrative data. A transparent coding framework based on procedure codes was developed to identify severe urinary complications which were grouped into 'stricture', 'incontinence' and 'other'. Their validity as a performance indicator was assessed by evaluating the consistency with diagnosis codes and association with patient and surgical characteristics. Kaplan-Meier methods were used to assess time to first occurrence and multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for patient and surgical characteristics. RESULTS: A total of 17 299 men were included, of whom 2695 (15.6%) experienced at least one severe urinary complication within 2 years. High proportions of men with a complication had relevant diagnosis codes: 86% for strictures and 93% for incontinence. Urinary complications were more common in men from poorer socio-economic backgrounds (OR comparing lowest with highest quintile: 1.45; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.26-1.67) and in those with prolonged length of hospital stay (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.40-1.69), and were less common in men who underwent robot-assisted surgery (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.58-0.74). CONCLUSION: These results show that severe urinary complications identified in administrative data provide a medium-term performance indicator after RP. They can be used for research assessing outcomes of treatment methods and for service evaluation comparing performance of prostate cancer surgery providers.

Câncer de boca e orofaringe em Belo Horizonte: estudo de base hospitalar no período de 2005 a 2015 / Cancer of mouth and oropharynx in Belo Horizonte: hospital-based study in the period from 2005 to 2015

O objetivo do presente estudo foi identificar o perfil dos pacientes com câncer de boca e orofaringe referidos ao Ambulatório de Cirurgia de Cabeça e Pescoço de um hospital público em Belo Horizonte, através da revisão de prontuários dos pacientes atendidos no período de 2005 a 2015. As variáveis estudadas foram: idade, sexo, cor de pele, escolaridade, estado civil, endereço de residência, tabagismo, etilismo, localização do tumor, estadiamento clínico, diagnóstico histológico, tipo de tratamento efetuado, data de ingresso, data de realização da cirurgia e data da última consulta. A análise dos dados envolveu estatística descritiva, comparação das variáveis sociodemográficas e clínicas para o tipo de tratamento e os dois tipos de câncer por meio do teste de chi-quadrado. Adicionalmente foi realizada a análise espacial da distribuição dos casos de câncer de boca e orofaringe. Foram analisados 289 prontuários, a maioria dos pacientes eram do sexo masculino (227), brancos (117), casados (125), com média de idade de 58,6 anos. Quarenta e seis (15,9%) pacientes eram analfabetos e 147 (50,9%) primeiro grau incompleto; 72,7% dos pacientes moravam na região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte. O etilismo e tabagismo estavam presentes em 82,0% e 85,1% dos pacientes respectivamente. As localizações anatômicas mais acometidas foram base da língua, palato mole, assoalho da boca, pilar amigdalino, e borda lateral da língua. O diagnóstico de carcinoma de células escamosas foi reportado em 89,6% dos prontuários. Foi constatado o câncer em grau III e IV (avançado) em 196 (67,8%) pacientes. A média do tempo gasto desde o laudo da biópsia até a consulta no serviço de cabeça e pescoço do HC/UFMG foi 1,5 meses (1,7 DP); e entre a primeira consulta e a data da cirurgia foi 2,9 meses (4,4 DP). Segundo o tipo de câncer, 146 (50,5%) pacientes tinham câncer de boca e 143 (49,5%) câncer de orofaringe, e as comparações revelaram que os pacientes com câncer de orofaringe em comparação com os de boca foram preferivelmente: tabagistas, etilistas, diagnosticados em estádio avançado da doença, com 3 ou mais sítios afetados, receberam tratamento não cirúrgico e residiam a mais de 50km do centro hospitalar. Quanto ao tipo de tratamento efetuado 32,9% somente foram diagnosticados e não continuaram com o tratamento proposto. Quando se compara o tipo de tratamento recebido, as únicas variáveis associadas com a adesão ao tratamento foram o estadiamento clínico inicial (I/II) e ser casado. Na análise espacial foi encontrado que os bairros com maior número de casos estavam localizados principalmente nas regionais Nordeste, Noroeste e Venda Nova. Em relação às variáveis socioeconômicas (baixa renda e moradia em condição semiadequada), foi observado que a maioria dos casos ocorreram em bairros em que estas condições eram piores. Concluindo, o perfil sociodemográfico dos pacientes com câncer de boca não se difere daqueles com câncer de orofaringe atendidos no HC/UFMG

The aim of this study to identify the profiles of patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer referred to the Departament of Head and Neck Surgery in a public hospital in Belo Horizontem, from 2005 to 2015. Medical records from the hospital were reviewed and the variables studied were age, gender, skin color, years of education, marital status, self-reported home address, smoking status, alcohol consumption, histopathologic diagnostic, the primary tumor location, the type of treatment, tumor staging, and dates of first, last consult and surgery...

A eficácia de diferentes tratamentos em pacientes com transtorno de humor: um estudo comparativo / The efficacy of different treatments in patients with mood disorder: a comparative study

A principal contribuição deste trabalho consiste em apresentar a evolução clínica de usuários de um Centro de Atenção Psicossocial na cidade de Brasília, com o diagnóstico de transtorno de humor, que utilizam antidepressivos como uma das modalidades terapêuticas, e correlacionar, com as variáveis: idade, sexo e outras formas de tratamento. Este estudo epidemiológico, descritivo, exploratório, retrospectivo e documental foi realizado com prontuários de pacientes em tratamento no CAPS-II da região administrativa de Samambaia-DF, no período de junho de 2013 a julho de 2014. Os dados foram avaliados através do Software SPSS e executadas análises descritivas e inferenciais, com o teste qui-quadrado, para verificar a associação entre as variáveis, com nível de significância de 5%. Não se obteve diferença significativa na eficácia quanto ao fármaco utilizado, no entanto, quando submetidos a outras modalidades terapêuticas, como, por exemplo, psicoterapia, os pacientes obtiveram melhora independentemente do fármaco utilizado. Conclui-se que as evoluções não dependem da escolha da classe de antidepressivos, pois as melhores respostas terapêuticas são alcançadas quando associadas a outras modalidades terapêuticas

The main contribution of this work is to present the clinical evolution of the users of one Psychosocial Care Center in Brasília with a diagnosis of mood disorder, using antidepressants as one of therapeutic modalities, and correlate with the variables: age, sex and other forms of treatment. This epidemiological, descriptive,exploratory, retrospective and documentary study was conducted with medical records of treatment in patients at CAPS-II administrative region of Samambaia-DF, from June 2013 to July 2014. Descriptive and inferential analyzes were evaluated by SPSS Software using chi-square test to verify the association between variables, withsignificance level of 5%. It has not obtained a significant difference in efficacy on the drug used, however, when undergoing other therapies, such as psychotherapy, patients had improvements regardless of the drug used. Concluding that developments do not depend of the choice of antidepressant class, as the best therapeutic responses are achieved when combined with other therapeutic modalities

Associação entre predição para lesão por pressão e marcadores bioquímicos / Association between pressure injury prediction and biochemical markers

Verificar a associação da predição de lesão por pressão com os níveis de albumina, hematócrito ehemoglobina. Métodos: estudo documental, desenvolvido em uma Unidade de Terapia Intensiva para Adultoscom prontuários de pacientes elegíveis (n=255). Foram extraídas variáveis de caracterização sociodemográficae clínica, desenvolvimento de lesão por pressão e região; escore da escala de Braden e resultados dosmarcadores bioquímicos. Fez-se análise estatística descritiva e inferencial, adotando-se nível de significânciade 5,0%. Resultados: houve prevalência do sexo masculino (64,7%) e de pacientes cirúrgicos (69,8%). Nãohouve associação estatística significativa entre os marcadores de hematócrito e hemoglobina com a prediçãode lesão por pressão, diferentemente dos níveis de albumina (p=0,023). Conclusão: há associação de prediçãode lesão por pressão no que se refere à albumina. O aporte proteico do paciente deve ser visto com maior rigorpela equipe de saúde.

Objective: to verify the association of pressure injury prediction with albumin, hematocrit and hemoglobin levels. Methods: documentary study, developed in an Intensive Care Unit for Adults with records of eligible patients (n=255). Sociodemographic and clinical characterizations lesion, development of pressure injury and region; a score of the Braden scale and results of biochemical markers were extracted. There was a descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, adopting a significance level of 5.0%. Results: there was a prevalence of males (64.7%) and surgical patients (69.8%). There was no significant association between hematocrit and hemoglobin markers with the pressure injury prediction, unlike albumin levels (p=0.023). Conclusion: there is an injury pressure prediction association in the albumin. The protein intake of the patient should be seen in greater detail by the health team.

Avaliação do perfil periodontal dos pacientes atendidos na Faculdade de Odontologia da Unievangélica / Periodontal assessment profile of patients treated in the College of Dentistry UniEVANGÉLICA / Periodontal assessment profile of patients treated in the College of Dentistry UniEVANGÉLICA

INTRODUÇÃO: A Doença Periodontal é caracterizada por uma doença infecciosa resultante da inflamação dos tecidos de suporte e do tecido de revestimento dos dentes. Esta pode ser classificada em: gengivite quando compromete o periodonto de proteção e periodontite que acomete os tecidos de inserção. OBJETIVO: Este estudo teve como objetivo verificar o perfil periodontal dos pacientes atendidos na Faculdade de Odontologia da UniEVANGÉLICA, Anápolis- GO. MATERIAL E MÉTODO: Esta pesquisa documental descritiva retrospectiva avaliou prontuários de pacientes atendidos na clínica da Faculdade de Odontologia da UniEVANGÉLICA no período de 2009 a 2014. Nos prontuários foram analisados principalmente o Registro Periodontal Simplificado (PSR), a classificação da doença periodontal e o periograma dos pacientes que apresentaram periodontite. RESULTADOS: Dentre os 233 prontuários, 68% (n = 158) eram mulheres, 33,05% (n = 77) tinham entre 40 e 50 anos e 21% (n = 51) eram fumantes. Destes, 55 % (n = 129) possuíam gengivite e 45% (n=104) periodontite. Dos pacientes com periodontite, a Crônica Localizada foi constatada em 48% (n = 50), a Crônica Generalizada em 40% (n = 42), enquanto as Agressivas Localizada e Generalizada foram encontradas em 7% (n = 7) e 5% (n = 5) respectivamente. Pelos dados do PSR, pode-se observar que 49% (n = 114) apresentaram o código asterisco. CONCLUSÃO: De acordo com os resultados obtidos nesta pesquisa, pode-se notar uma prevalência de pacientes do gênero feminino e a gengivite foi a doença periodontal mais prevalente seguida pela periodontite crônica localizada.

INTRODUCTION: The Periodontal Disease is characterized by an infectious disease resulted from the inflammation of covering tissues (gingivitis) and/or of the support tissue (periodontitis) of teeth. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to verify the periodontal profile of the patients attended at UniEVANGÉLICA’S Dental School. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This is a descriptive documental and retrospective research that evaluated the records of the patients that were attended at UniEvangélica’s Dental School clinic from 2009 to 2014. The Periodontal Screening and Record (PSR), the periodontal disease’s classification and the periodontal chart of the patients that presented periodontitis were the main analysis performed from the records. RESULTS: Among the 233 records, 68% (n=158) were women, 33,05% (n=77) among 40 to 50 years old and 21% (n=51) were smokers. Among these, 55% (n=129) presented gingivitis, from the patients with periodontitis, 48% (n=50) were diagnosed with the Localized Chronic periodontitis, 40% (n=42) with the Generalized Chronic, while 7% (n=7) and 5% (n=5) had the Aggressive Localized and the Generalized Periodontitis, respectively. Through the PSR data, it was noticed that 49% (n=114) presented the asterisk code. CONCLUSION: According to the results of this research, a female prevalence could be noticed and the gingivitis was the most prevalent periodontal disease, followed by the Localized Chronic Periodontitis

Variability in home mechanical ventilation prescription.

INTRODUCTION: Few studies have analyzed the prevalence and accessibility of home mechanical ventilation (HMV). The aim of this study was to characterize the prevalence of HMV and variability in prescriptions from administrative data. METHODS: Prescribing rates of HMV in the 37 healthcare sectors of the Catalan Health Service were compared from billing data from 2008 to 2011. Crude accumulated activity rates (per 100,000 population) were calculated using systematic component of variation (SCV) and empirical Bayes (EB) methods. Standardized activity ratios (SAR) were described using a map of healthcare sectors. RESULTS: A crude rate of 23 HMV prescriptions per 100,000 population was observed. Rates increase with age and have increased by 39%. Statistics measuring variation not due to chance show a high variation in women (CSV=0.20 and EB=0.30) and in men (CSV=0.21 and EB=0.40), and were constant over time. In a multilevel Poisson model, hospitals with a chest unit were associated with a greater number of cases (beta=0.68, P<.0001). CONCLUSIONS: High variability in prescribing HMV can be explained, in part, by the attitude of professionals towards treatment and accessibility to specialist centers with a chest unit. Analysis of administrative data and variability mapping help identify unexplained variations and, in the absence of systematic records, are a feasible way of tracking treatment.

End--users' perception of quality of care of children attending children's outpatients clinics of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Ituku--Ozalla Enugu.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of the specific details of end-users actual experiences with health system helps to identify areas for improvement in ways that standardized satisfaction measures are less able to provide in order to save lives, uphold public confidence and trust in healthcare delivery. The aim of the study was to assess the end-users' perception of the quality of clinical services rendered to children attending paediatric out-patient clinics of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku - Ozalla, Enugu. METHODS: A cross sectional descriptive study was undertaken using exit point interviewer administered pre-tested/semi-structured questionnaire.Assessment of perception of quality of care was undertaken in three service areas; waiting time, attitude of staff and comfort of the waiting hall. Data was analyzed using SPSS 16.0 and presented as percentages. Chi-square was used to compare means (p < 0.05). RESULTS: A total of 367 respondents were interviewed. Over 50% of them were generally satisfied with overall quality of care. 329 (89.6%) were very satisfied with quality of doctors' services, while the least satisfaction was with the quality of medical records services 139 (37.9%). Majority of the respondents 197 (53.7%) spent between 3-6 hours for each clinic visit and most of the waiting time spent was in the medical records and consultation. CONCLUSION: The care--givers perception of the general quality of care was adjudged high. However, overall waiting time was perceived to be unsatisfactory.Efforts should be made to reduce the time spent by clients while accessing care in the facility.