Poor reporting of lab tests hurting industry, says Kemri
Information on laboratory test availability and current testing scope among general hospitals in Kenya is not readily available.
What you need to know:
- Monthly hospital laboratory testing data were extracted from the Kenyan DHIS2 between January 2018 and December 2019.
- Researchers used the national laboratory testing summary tool (MoH 706) to identify the tests of interest among 204 general hospitals in Kenya.
The current reporting of laboratory testing information on the District Health Information Software (DHIS2) which is used in more than 60 countries around the world is poor according to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Programme.
In a new peer reviewed study published by the National Library of Medicine, monitoring access and utilisation of laboratory testing across the country requires significant improvements in consistency and coverage of routine laboratory test reporting in DHIS2 as available data shows unequal and intermittent population access to laboratory testing provided by general hospitals in Kenya.
“Information on laboratory test availability and current testing scope among general hospitals in Kenya is not readily available. We sought to explore the reporting trends and test availability within clinical laboratories in Kenya over a 24-months period through analysis of the laboratory data reported in the District Health Information System (DHIS2),” the study highlights.
Monthly hospital laboratory testing data were extracted from the Kenyan DHIS2 between January 2018 and December 2019.
Researchers used the national laboratory testing summary tool (MoH 706) to identify the tests of interest among 204 general hospitals in Kenya. A local practitioner panel consisting of individuals with laboratory expertise was used to classify the tests as common and uncommon.
“We compared the tests on the MoH 706 template with the Essential Diagnostic List (EDL) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and further reclassified them into test categories based on the EDL for generalisability of our findings,” the survey says.
Evaluation of the number of monthly test types reported in each facility and the largest number of tests ever reported in any of the 24 months were used to assess test availability and testing scope, respectively.
They found that out of the 204 general hospitals assessed, 179 reported at least one of the 80 tests of interest in any of the 24 months.
“Only 41 per cent (74/179) of the reporting hospitals submitted all their monthly DHIS2 laboratory reports for the entire 24 months.”
The median testing capacity across the hospitals was 40 per cent with a wide variation in testing scope from one hospital laboratory to another.
Testing scope was inconsistent within facilities as indicated by often large monthly fluctuations in the total number of recommended and EDL tests reported while tests of anatomical pathology and cancer were the least reported with four county hospitals not reporting any cancer or anatomical pathology tests for the entire 24 months.
