Quality Assessment of Primary Health Care Delivered to Children Under 5 Years Old in Najaf Governorate

Abstract

Background: Quality of care is considered as a critical component of the health-care delivery system that must be prioritized. In reality, primary health care includes a wide range of essential services, increasing the importance of evaluating its quality. Materials and Methods:  cross sectional study was conducted in PHCCs at six district in Najaf Governorate. A close-ended questionnaire using likert scale consisted of three parts (caregiver, health worker, and PHCCs infrastructure part). All primary health care centers were included in the study (28), convenient sample of health workers (240) and child caregivers (280).). Results: The caregivers' perceptions of the quality assessment were significantly related to their place of living, with caregivers in urban being more satisfied with health services was (p=0.018). Additionally, the education level of caregivers was also significantly related to their perceptions of quality assessment in the general Examination(p=0.014). Regarding health workers, gender was significantly related to perceptions of quality assessment in the quality of administration and performance dimensions was (0.011,0.016 respectively), with males and females having differing opinions. Health worker education level was only significantly related to quality assessment in the performance dimension was (p=0.036), while experience was significantly related to quality assessment in the administration and performance dimensions (0.005,0.024 respectively). and specialization was significantly related to quality assessment in the administration and performance dimensions (0.022,0.001 respectively). Conclusion: Child caregivers, health workers perceptions showed positive attitude towards quality assessment of primary health care centers services. Quality assessment of primary health care centers regarding to services, infrastructure, medical equipment’s and cleanness of the primary health care facility was poor.