Doctors' perspectives on the quality of medical imaging in public hospitals in eThekwini District

Doctors' perspectives on the quality of medical imaging in public hospitals in eThekwini District

There is a paucity of literature on perspectives of referring doctors about the quality of medical imaging services and this study closes this gap in literature. This quality assurance (QA) study aimed to explore the perspectives of doctors on the quality of medical imaging services in selected regi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health SA = SA Gesondheid Vol. 29; no. 2; p. 2389
Main Authors: Gam, Nkululeko P, Sibiya, Maureen N
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: South Africa African Online Scientific Information Systems (Pty) Ltd t/a AOSIS 2024
AOSIS (Pty) Ltd
AOSIS
AOSIS Publishing on behalf of University of Johannesburg
Subjects:
challenges
clinicians
Data collection
Data entry
Departments
doctors
Emergency medical care
experiences
Health Care Sciences & Services
Health Policy & Services
Hospitals
Interviews
Medical care
Medical imaging
Medical imaging equipment
Medical referrals
Medical research
Medicine
Original Research
Orthopedics
Patients
Physicians
Preventive maintenance
Qualitative research
quality assurance
Quality control
Quality management
Radiation
radiology services
Research methodology
South Africa
Surgery
South Africa
physicians
challenges
doctors
quality assurance
clinicians
radiology services
experiences
medical imaging
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Summary:There is a paucity of literature on perspectives of referring doctors about the quality of medical imaging services and this study closes this gap in literature. This quality assurance (QA) study aimed to explore the perspectives of doctors on the quality of medical imaging services in selected regional hospitals within eThekwini District of KwaZulu-Natal. The study was conducted in four public regional hospitals. An exploratory descriptive qualitative research design involving 30 min-45 min of in-depth individual interviews was used. A purposive sampling technique was used to select research participants and hospitals to ensure adequate responses to the research questions. The sample involved nine participants and was guided by data saturation. Responses were recorded through notes and voice recordings and thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Three main themes (timeliness of examinations, communication and radiology reports and image quality) and eight subthemes (waiting times, shortage of radiographers, workload, communication between doctors and radiographers, requisition forms, unavailability of radiology reports, clarity of images and image acquisition protocols) emerged from the data. Challenges experienced were exacerbated by high workload and shortage of radiologists and radiographers. Doctors in the data collection sites were mainly dissatisfied with services provided by the medical imaging departments. Regular engagements between medical imaging departments and doctors are important in enhancing the provision of quality care to patients. In-service training of radiographers and employment of additional radiographers and finding solutions to mitigate shortage of radiologists are recommended. This quality assurance (QA) study focused on experiences of doctors while many other medical imaging QA studies in South Africa are equipment based. In-service training of radiographers is recommended to improve image quality and communication skills.
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ISSN:1025-9848
2071-9736
2071-9736
DOI:10.4102/hsag.v29i0.2389