Original Research

Driving hospital transformation with SLMTA in a regional hospital in Cameroon

Laura T. Eno, Terence Asong, Elive Ngale, Beatrice Mangwa, Juliana Ndasi, Maurice Mouladje, Remmie Lekunze, Victor Mbome, Patrick Njukeng, Judith Shang
African Journal of Laboratory Medicine | Vol 3, No 2 | a221 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ajlm.v3i2.221 | © 2014 Laura T. Eno, Terence Asong, Elive Ngale, Beatrice Mangwa, Juliana Ndasi, Maurice Mouladje, Remmie Lekunze, Victor Mbome, Patrick Njukeng, Judith Shang | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 07 August 2014 | Published: 03 November 2014

About the author(s)

Laura T. Eno, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cameroon
Terence Asong, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cameroon
Elive Ngale, Global Health Systems Solution, Cameroon
Beatrice Mangwa, Global Health Systems Solution, Cameroon
Juliana Ndasi, Global Health Systems Solution, Cameroon
Maurice Mouladje, Buea Regional Hospital, Cameroon
Remmie Lekunze, Cameroon Development Corporation, Central Clinic, Cameroon
Victor Mbome, Regional Delegation for Health, Buea, Cameroon
Patrick Njukeng, Global Health Systems Solution, Cameroon
Judith Shang, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cameroon

Abstract

Background: Inspired by the transformation of the Regional Hospital Buea laboratory through implementation of the Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA) programme, hospital management adapted the SLMTA toolkit to drive hospital wide quality improvement.

Objective: This paper describes changes in the hospital following the quality improvement activities in hygiene and sanitation, the outpatient waiting area and the surgical and maternity wards.

Methods: In March 2011, hospital management established a quality improvement task force and created a hospital-wide quality improvement roadmap, following the SLMTA model. The roadmap comprised improvement projects, accountability plans, patient feedback forms and log books to track quality indicators including patient wait time, satisfaction level, infectionrates, birth outcomes and hospital revenue.

Results: There was steady improvement in service delivery during the 11 months after the introduction of the quality improvement initiatives: patient wait time at the reception was reduced from three hours to less than 30 minutes and patient satisfaction increased from 15% to 60%. Treatment protocols were developed and documented for various units, infrastructure and workflow processes were improved and there was increased staff awareness of the importance of providing quality services. Maternal infection rates dropped from 3% to 0.5% and stillbirths from 5% to < 1%. The number of clients increased as a result of improvedservices, leading to a 25% increase in hospital revenue.

Conclusion: The SLMTA approach was adapted successfully to meet the needs of the entire hospital. Such a programme has the potential to impact positively on hospital quality systems; consideration should be made for development of a formal SLMTA-like programmefor hospital quality improvement.


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Crossref Citations

1. A comprehensive review of the SLMTA literature part 1: Content analysis and future priorities
Elizabeth T. Luman, Katy Yao, John N. Nkengasong
African Journal of Laboratory Medicine  vol: 3  issue: 2  year: 2014  
doi: 10.4102/ajlm.v3i2.265