Tuijn Coosje J, Msoka Elizabeth, Mushi Declare L, Boer Marion Sumari-de, Chilongola Jaffu, van den Broek Ankie
Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) Biomedical Research, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI), Moshi, Tanzania.
Afr J Lab Med. 2014 Jul 23;3(1):126. doi: 10.4102/ajlm.v3i1.126. eCollection 2014.
Strengthening the communication and professional relationships between clinicians and laboratory workers is essential in order to positively change clinicians' attitudes about the reliability of diagnostic tests, enhancing the use of laboratory diagnostics and, ultimately, improving patient care. We developed an analytical framework to gain insight into the factors that influence communication amongst health professionals.
To explore whether the interaction between clinicians and laboratory workers influences the use of laboratory test results in clinical decision making.
Four health facilities in northern Tanzania were selected using convenience sampling, whereas study participants were selected using purposive sampling. The quantitative and qualitative data collection methods included self-administered questionnaires; semi-structured, individual interviews; in-depth, individual interviews; and/or focus group discussions with clinicians and laboratory workers. Thematic content analyses were performed on qualitative data based on the framework. Descriptive statistical analyses of quantitative data were conducted using Microsoft Excel.
Contact between clinicians and laboratory professionals is seldom institutionalised and collaboration is rare. The clinicians believe collaboration with laboratory staff is a challenge because of the gap in education levels. Laboratory workers' education levels are often lower than their positions require, leading to clinicians' lack of respect for and confidence in laboratory professionals, which compromises the laboratory staff's motivation.
Hospital managers, clinicians and laboratory workers need to recognise the critical and complementary roles each professional plays and the importance of addressing the gap between them. Field application of the framework proved successful, justifying the expansion of this study to a larger geographical area to include additional healthcare institutions.
加强临床医生与实验室工作人员之间的沟通和专业关系至关重要，以便积极改变临床医生对诊断测试可靠性的态度，增加实验室诊断的使用，并最终改善患者护理。我们开发了一个分析框架，以深入了解影响卫生专业人员之间沟通的因素。
探讨临床医生与实验室工作人员之间的互动是否会影响临床决策中实验室检测结果的使用。
采用便利抽样法在坦桑尼亚北部选择了四个卫生机构，而研究参与者则采用目的抽样法选择。定量和定性数据收集方法包括自填式问卷；与临床医生和实验室工作人员进行的半结构化个人访谈、深入个人访谈和/或焦点小组讨论。基于该框架对定性数据进行主题内容分析。使用Microsoft Excel对定量数据进行描述性统计分析。
临床医生与实验室专业人员之间的联系很少制度化，合作也很少见。临床医生认为，由于教育水平的差距，与实验室工作人员合作是一项挑战。实验室工作人员的教育水平往往低于其职位要求，导致临床医生对实验室专业人员缺乏尊重和信心，这损害了实验室工作人员的积极性。
医院管理人员、临床医生和实验室工作人员需要认识到每个专业人员所发挥的关键和互补作用，以及弥合他们之间差距的重要性。该框架的现场应用证明是成功的，证明将这项研究扩展到更大的地理区域以纳入更多医疗机构是合理的。
