Evaluation of the quality of clinical laboratory services in the University Hospital of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Authors:   Department of Medical Biology, University Hospital of Kinshasa, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa. PO Box 834 Kinshasa XI, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)., Byaene Alain Chabo , Matendo Rostin Mabela ,   Department of Mathematics and Informatics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Kinshasa. PO Box 190 Kinshasa XI, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)., Numbi Joël Konde ,   Department of Health and Environment, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa. PO Box 834 Kinshasa XI, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)., Mavoko Hypolite Muhindo ,   Department of Tropical Medicine, University Hospital of Kinshasa, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa. PO Box 834 Kinshasa XI, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)., Nzongola-Nkasu Donatien Kayembe ,   Department of Medical Biology, University Hospital of Kinshasa, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa. PO Box 834 Kinshasa XI, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)., Aristophane Koffi Tanon ,   Department of Dermatology and Infectiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Félix Houphouët Boigny University. PO Box V 166 Abidjan-Cocody, Côte d’Ivoire., Masidi Jérémie Muwonga ,   Department of Medical Biology, University Hospital of Kinshasa, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa. PO Box 834 Kinshasa XI, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)., Nani-Tuma Hippolyte Situakibanza ,   Department of Tropical Medicine, University Hospital of Kinshasa, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa. PO Box 834 Kinshasa XI, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Published: July 2021

The evaluation of the quality of a service is the critical assessment of the degree to which the service, or its component, provides customers’ satisfaction. Monitoring customer satisfaction is an important and useful quality improvement tool for clinical laboratories and health care organizations. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the satisfaction level with laboratory services among attending physicians and to identify factors associated with satisfaction and priorities for quality improvement. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the University Hospital of Kinshasa. Data were collected through a reliable and valid interviewer-administered questionnaire and analyzed by using SPSS version 21. The correlation between associated factors and customer satisfaction was analyzed using the chi-square test and multivariate regression analysis. The Importance-Performance Analysis was the determinant of improvement priority. The overall level of customers’ satisfaction toward clinical laboratory services in this study was 45.2% with a response rate of 330 (100%). Gender (ORadj = 1.75, 95% CI 1.06, 2.91), Department (ORadj = 3.09, 95% CI 1.50, 6.37) and academic title (ORadj = 6.85, 95% CI 3.51, 8.81) were found to have a statistically significant association with the overall satisfaction. Results accuracy (I = 0.944, P = 4.7), laboratory turnaround time (I = 0.932, P = 4.8), and availability of all the tests requested by physicians (I = 0.917, P = 4.9) were the most important opportunities for quality improvement. The overall level of customers’ satisfaction with laboratory services was low. Thus, the laboratory management must establish preventive and corrective measures to improve the results’ accuracy, reduce the laboratory turnaround time, and ensure the availability of all the tests requested by physicians. Keywords: Customers satisfaction, clinical laboratory, services’ quality, continuous improvement, Democratic Republic of the Congo.