An action research study on improvement of laboratory services in Baaray-Santuk Referral Hospital, Baaray-Santuk Operational District, Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia / Chap Seak Chhay
Baaray-Santuk Referral Hospital (BSRH) is the former Baaray District Hospital. It has been upgraded to one of the Three Referral Hospitals in Kampong Thom Province, which is in the central region of Cambodia, according to the national health coverage plan after the implementation of health care system reform in 1995. It has to provide a Complete Package Activities (CPA), as defined by the Ministry of Health. However, all of health care services within the Referral Hospital have not been upgraded yet. Therefore, laboratory diagnosis that is one component of the Complementary Package Activities was chosen as the problem of the present study. The main goal of this action research study is to improve existing laboratory services in order to support the quality of care for individual patients in Baaray-Santuk Referral Hospital. As a result, there are two kinds of information needed to improve laboratory services in the Referral Hospital: (1) information about the common health problems and the related laboratory tests needed in the Referral Hospital, and (2) information about the deficiencies and shortcomings in the section of laboratory services. The information about common health problems and needed laboratory tests will be studied through focus group discussion and personal interview with clinicians, whereas the deficiencies and shortcomings in the section of laboratory services will be studied through observation and in depth interview with laboratory staff. Primary data are supplemented by secondary data gathered from the records either in Baaray-Santuk Referral Hospital, the Operational District Health Office, or Kampong Thom Provincial Health Department. Based on the identified needs, laboratory equipment will be chosen, and a laboratory-training curriculum will be developed by a Laboratory Technical Committee. Further, the lab oratory-training program will be conducted by National Reference Laboratory in order to upgrade knowledge and skills, and to acquaint laboratory staff with new laboratory techniques in Baaray-Santuk Referral Hospital.
