Perceptions of hospital staff on the performance of Quality Improvement teams in the regional referral hospitals in Tanzania: A cross sectional study

BACKGROUND: To ensure patient-centered quality care for all citizens, Quality Improvement (QI) teams have been established across all public hospitals in Tanzania. However, little is known about how hospital staff perceive the performance of hospital QI teams in Tanzania. This study assessed the perceptions of hospital staff of the performance of QI teams in selected regional referral hospitals in Tanzania. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in four selected regional referral hospitals between April and August 2018. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 385 hospital staff in the selected hospitals. Measures of central tendency, proportions and frequencies were used to assess level of perception of hospital staff. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to test the association between the perceptions of hospital staff of the performance of QI teams and their socio-demographic factors. RESULTS: The overall mean perception score of the performance of QI teams was 4.84 ± 1.25. Hospital staff aged 35 and over (n = 130; 68%), female hospital staff (n = 144; 64%), staff in clinical units (n = 136; 63%) and staff with post-secondary education (n = 175; 63%) perceived that the performance of QI teams was good. Improved hospital cleanliness was viewed as strength of QI teams, whilst inadequate sharing of information and inadequate reduction in patient waiting time were considered as weaknesses of QI team performance. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that there was no statistical association between the perceptions of hospital staff and their socio-demographic characteristics. CONCLUSION: The overall perception of hospital staff of the performance of QI teams was good, with the main limitation being sharing of hospital QI plans with hospital staff. Hospital staff should be involved in the development and implementation of hospital QI plans, which would promote a positive perception of staff of the performance of QI teams and enhance sustainability of QI teams.