Pulmonary & Respiratory Medicine

Finding Out the Possibilities of Improving OPD Services

Abstract

Heenatimulla SDK, Deepthi WKC, Samarawickrama N, Wijesinghe AK, Maranthota MRU

Introduction: National Hospital for Respiratory Diseases (NHRD) at Welisara is the Premier tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka for respiratory diseases. No studies have been done in its OPD set up to collect data which could have been invaluable for future planning and implementation. This study was done to gather such vital information in view of improving services rendered by NHRD OPD. Few parameters like socio-demographic details, distance to the hospital, cost for the visit, having a referral letter given by a doctor, number of persons accompanied the patient and reasons to visit NHRD were studied.
Methodology: This was a descriptive cross sectional study of patients who attended OPD of NHRD. Interviewer administered questionnaire was given to randomly selected 420 patients who were above 18 years of age and who were on their first visit to the hospital.
Results: Majority of patients were less educated and were coming from a low socio-economic background. Both sexes presented equally to the OPD. 68% of patients were coming from within 20 km of distance from the hospital and for 62%, the cost for the visit was found to be 200 rupees or less. Only for 7% of people, NHRD was the nearest hospital. 95% of patients has presented with respiratory related conditions while only 2% had a referral letter with them. Most of the patients (around 80%) were accompanied by 2 or 3 persons. More than 70% visited NHRD due to its reputation as the leading hospital in the country for respiratory diseases.
Conclusion: Middle aged less educated people with a low socio-economic status were the people who mostly visited the NHRD OPD. Most had respiratory system related presenting complaints. This is of significance and should be considered in giving health education to these patients. Majority of the patients resided close by to the hospital and their cost for the visit roughly showed similarities to the distances they travel. Though most patients visit NHRD after using nearby health facilities, lack of a proper referral system and accompained too many people can worsen the overcrowding at OPD. Strengthening the usage of nearby healthcare facilities can reduce this as NHRD was found to be the nearest hospital for very few of this population. Most common reason for visiting NHRD OPD was the reputation NHRD has gained as the leading hospital of the country for Respiratory disease, which should be conserved.