Maternal and neonatal services in Ethiopia: measuring and improving quality.

PROBLEM: Maternal and neonatal mortality remains high in low- and middle-income countries, with poor quality of intrapartum care as a barrier to further progress. APPROACH: We developed and tested a method of measuring the quality of maternal and neonatal care that could be embedded in a larger national performance management initiative. The tool used direct observations and medical record reviews to score quality in nine domains of intrapartum care. We piloted and evaluated the tool in visits to the 18 lead hospitals that have responsibility to promote and coordinate quality improvement efforts within a hospital cluster in Ethiopia. Between baseline and follow-up assessments, staff from a national quality collaborative alliance provided hospital-based training on labour and delivery services. LOCAL SETTING: Ethiopia has invested in hospital quality improvement for more than a decade and this tool was integrated into existing quality improvement mechanisms within lead hospitals, with the potential for scale-up to all government hospitals. RELEVANT CHANGES: Significant improvements in quality of intrapartum care were detected from baseline (June-July 2015) to follow-up (February-March 2016) in targeted hospitals. The overall mean quality score rose from 65.6 (standard deviation, SD: 10.5) to 91.2 (SD: 12.4) out of 110 items (P < 0.001). LESSONS LEARNT: The method was feasible, requiring a total of 3 days and two to three trained data collectors per hospital visit. It produced data that detected substantial changes made during 8 months of national hospital quality improvement efforts. With additional replication studies, this tool may be useful in other low- and middle-income countries.

A national system for monitoring the performance of hospitals in Ethiopia.

Many countries struggle to develop and implement strategies to monitor hospitals nationally. The challenge is particularly acute in low-income countries where resources for measurement and reporting are scarce. We examined the experience of developing and implementing a national system for monitoring the performance of 130 government hospitals in Ethiopia. Using participatory observation, we found that the monitoring system resulted in more consistent hospital reporting of performance data to regional health bureaus and the federal government, increased transparency about hospital performance and the development of multiple quality-improvement projects. The development and implementation of the system, which required technical and political investment and support, would not have been possible without strong hospital-level management capacity. Thorough assessment of the health sector's readiness to change and desire to prioritize hospital quality can be helpful in the early stages of design and implementation. This assessment may include interviews with key informants, collection of data about health facilities and human resources and discussion with academic partners. Aligning partners and donors with the government's vision for quality improvement can enhance acceptability and political support. Such alignment can enable resources to be focused strategically towards one national effort - rather than be diluted across dozens of potentially competing projects. Initial stages benefit from having modest goals and the flexibility for continuous modification and improvement, through active engagement with all stakeholders.

De nombreux pays s'efforcent d'élaborer et de mettre en œuvre des stratégies pour contrôler les hôpitaux à l'échelle nationale. C'est un défi de taille, en particulier pour les pays à faible revenu, qui disposent de peu de ressources pour effectuer des mesures et des comptes-rendus. Nous avons analysé l'expérience qui a consisté à élaborer et mettre en œuvre un système national de contrôle des performances de 130 hôpitaux publics en Éthiopie. Des observations participatives ont révélé que ce système de contrôle a entraîné une communication plus systématique des données sur les performances aux bureaux régionaux de la santé et au gouvernement fédéral de la part des hôpitaux, a amélioré la transparence concernant les performances de ces derniers et a permis d'élaborer plusieurs projets d'amélioration de la qualité. L'élaboration et la mise en œuvre de ce système, qui ont nécessité des investissements et des soutiens techniques et politiques, n'auraient pas été possibles sans d'importantes capacités de gestion dans les hôpitaux. Il peut être utile, aux premiers stades de la conception et de la mise en œuvre, d'évaluer de manière approfondie l'ouverture au changement du secteur de la santé ainsi que son souhait de placer au premier plan la qualité des services hospitaliers. Cette évaluation peut s'appuyer sur des entretiens avec des informateurs clés, sur la collecte de données au sujet des établissements de santé et des ressources humaines, ou encore sur une discussion avec des partenaires universitaires. Le fait d'associer des partenaires et des donateurs à l'objectif d'amélioration de la qualité visé par le gouvernement peut permettre de renforcer son acceptabilité ainsi que le soutien politique en la matière. Cela peut permettre de faire converger les ressources de façon stratégique vers un même effort national, plutôt que de les éparpiller dans des dizaines de projets potentiellement concurrents. Au cours des premières phases, il est bénéfique d'avoir des objectifs modestes et de faire preuve de souplesse afin de permettre des modifications et une amélioration continues, par le biais d'un engagement actif auprès de l'ensemble des parties prenantes.

Muchos países tienen dificultades para desarrollar e implementar estrategias a nivel nacional para monitorizar los hospitales. El reto es especialmente complicado en países de ingresos bajos donde los recursos para la medición y la notificación son escasos. Se examinó la experiencia a la hora de desarrollar e implementar un sistema nacional para monitorizar el rendimiento de 130 hospitales del gobierno en Etiopía. Haciendo uso de una observación participativa, se observó que el sistema de monitorización se tradujo en una notificación de datos de rendimiento de los hospitales más coherente a las oficinas de salud regionales y al gobierno federal, así como un incremento en la transparencia sobre el rendimiento de los hospitales y el desarrollo de diferentes proyectos para la mejora de la calidad. El desarrollo y la implementación de dicho sistema, que requería de inversiones y soporte tanto técnico como en materia de inversión, no hubieran sido posibles sin una fuerte habilidad de gestión a nivel hospitalario. Una meticulosa valoración de la disposición del sector sanitario a cambiar y del deseo de este a priorizar la calidad hospitalaria podría ser de gran ayuda en las primeras fases del diseño y la implementación. Esta evaluación podría incluir entrevistas con informadores clave, una recopilación de datos sobre instalaciones sanitarias, recursos humanos y debates con asociados del mundo académico. Poner en consonancia la visión del gobierno sobre la mejora de la calidad con los asociados y contribuyentes puede hacer aumentar la aceptación y el apoyo político. Dicho alineamiento puede permitir una focalización estratégica de los recursos respecto a un solo esfuerzo nacional, antes que esparcirlo en docenas de proyectos potencialmente conflictivos. Las fases iniciales son las principales beneficiadas de tener objetivos modestos y flexibilidad para modificar y mejorar de forma continua, a través de un compromiso activo con todos los accionistas.

Implementation of hospital governing boards: views from the field.

BACKGROUND: Decentralization through the establishment of hospital governing boards has been touted as an effective way to improve the quality and efficiency of hospitals in low-income countries. Although several studies have examined the process of decentralization, few have quantitatively assessed the implementation of hospital governing boards and their impact on hospital performance. Therefore, we sought to describe the functioning of governing boards and to determine the association between governing board functioning and hospital performance. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study with governing board chairpersons to assess board (1) structure, (2) roles and responsibilities and (3) training and orientation practices. Using bivariate analysis and multivariable regression, we examined the association between governing board functioning and hospital performance. Hospital performance indicators: 1) percent of hospital management standards met, measured with the Ethiopian Hospital Reform Implementation Guidelines and 2) patient experience, measured with the Inpatient and Outpatient Assessment of Healthcare surveys. RESULTS: A total of 92 boards responded to the survey (96% response rate). The average percentage of EHRIG standards met was 58.1% (standard deviation (SD) 21.7 percentage points), and the mean overall patient experience score was 7.2 (SD 2.2). Hospitals with greater hospital management standards met had governing boards that paid members, reviewed performance in several domains quarterly or more frequently, developed new revenue sources, determined services to be outsourced, reviewed patient complaints, and had members with knowledge in business and financial management (all P-values < 0.05). Hospitals with more positive patient experience had governing boards that developed new revenue sources, determined services to be outsourced, and reviewed patient complaints (all P-values < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These cross-sectional data suggest that strengthening governing boards to perform essential responsibilities may result in improved hospital performance.

Use of a national collaborative to improve hospital quality in a low-income setting.

BACKGROUND: Quality improvement collaboratives are a widely used mechanism to improve hospital performance in high-income settings, but we lack evidence about their effectiveness in low-income settings. METHODS: We conducted cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of data from the Ethiopian Hospital Alliance for Quality, a national collaborative sponsored by Ethiopia's Federal Ministry of Health. We identified hospital strategies associated with more positive patient satisfaction using linear regression and assessed changes in patient experience over a 3-year period (2012-2014) using matched t-tests. RESULTS: A total of 68 hospitals (response rate 68/120, 56.7%) were included in cross-sectional analysis. Four practices were significantly associated with more positive patient satisfaction (p<0.05): posting a record of cleaning activity in toilets and in patient wards, distributing leaflets in the local language with each prescription, and sharing ideas about patient experience across the hospital. Among hospitals that had complete data for longitudinal analysis (44/68, 65%), we found a 10% improvement in a 10-point measure of patient satisfaction (7.7 vs 8.4, p<0.01) from the start to the end of the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Quality improvement collaboratives can be useful at scale in low-income settings in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for hospitals that adopt strategies associated with patient satisfaction.

Development of a brief instrument for assessing healthcare employee satisfaction in a low-income setting.

BACKGROUND: Ethiopia is one of 57 countries identified by the World Health Report 2006 as having a severely limited number of health care professionals. In recognition of this shortage, the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health, through the Ethiopian Hospital Management Initiative, prioritized the need to improve retention of health care workers. Accordingly, we sought to develop the Satisfaction of Employees in Health Care (SEHC) survey for use in hospitals and health centers throughout Ethiopia. METHODS: Literature reviews and cognitive interviews were used to generate a staff satisfaction survey for use in the Ethiopian healthcare setting. We pretested the survey in each of the six hospitals and four health centers across Ethiopia (98% response rate). We assessed content validity and convergent validity using factor analysis and examined reliability using the Cronbach alpha coefficients to assess internal consistency. The final survey was comprised of 18 questions about specific aspects of an individual's work and two overall staff satisfaction questions. RESULTS: We found support for content validity, as data from the 18 responses factored into three factors, which we characterized as 1) relationship with management and supervisors, 2) job content, and 3) relationships with coworkers. Summary scores for two factors (relationship with management and supervisors and job content) were significantly associated (P-value, <0.001) with the two overall satisfaction items. Cronbach's alpha coefficients showed good to excellent internal consistency (Cronbach alpha coefficients >0.70) for the items in the three summary scores. CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of consistent and reliable measures of staff satisfaction is crucial to understand and improve employee retention rates, which threaten the successful achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in low-income countries. The use of the SEHC survey in Ethiopian healthcare facilities has ample leadership support, which is essential for addressing problems that reduce staff satisfaction and exacerbate excessive workforce shortages.