Availability of guidelines and policy documents for  enhancing performance of practitioners at the Primary  Health Care (PHC) facilities in Gaborone, Tlokweng and  Mogoditshane, Republic of Botswana.

Mashalla, Yohana J.

Availability of guidelines and policy documents for enhancing performance of practitioners at the Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities in Gaborone, Tlokweng and Mogoditshane, Republic of Botswana.

dc.contributor.author	Mashalla, Yohana J.
dc.date.accessioned	2021-10-22T07:00:36Z
dc.date.available	2021-10-22T07:00:36Z
dc.date.issued	2016-05-13
dc.description.abstract	This study aimed to determine the profile and availability of policies and guidelines as reference documents at Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities in Gaborone and its surrounding in Botswana using the World Health Organisation/Drug Action programme (WHO/DAP) Questionnaire. The Questionnaire is a standard recommended by WHO and therefore was not piloted. All 20 PHC facilities were included in the study, however, data from 18 clinics was collected and analysed. The Matron from each PHC facility was asked to name and produce as evidence, guidelines and policy documents available as reference in his/her PHC facility. Data was entered in an Excel spread sheet and percentages, averages and frequencies were used to describe the profile and availability of the documents at each facility. Fifty two different documents were available at the facilities, 50% of them were on treatment and management of diseases. The remaining 50% were distributed between general information/policy, Ante-Natal Clinic, obstetrics and gynaecological care, and family planning. Except for guidelines for treating sexually transmitted diseases (86%), availability of the other guidelines and policy documents was low (56%) or less. Policy and guideline reference information for disease immunisation and prevention were available at 4 and 13% PHC, respectively. This low availability of such important instruments may be compromising patient care in the studied PHC facilities and should be addressed. While the Ministry of Health has produced many policy documents and guidelines as reference documents for PHC providers, none of the clinics had all the documents, raising questions on what is available at the facilities as reference and guide in the prescription practices. It is recommended that ministries of health and PHC workers should ensure that necessary reference documents are available at the facilities and staff should be trained and retrained on the use of such documents.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Mashalla, Y.J., Sepako, E., Setlhare, V., Chuma, M., Bulang, M. and Massele, A.Y., 2016. Availability of guidelines and policy documents for enhancing performance of practitioners at the Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities in Gaborone, Tlokweng and Mogoditshane, Republic of Botswana. Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology, 8(8), pp.127-135.	en_US
dc.identifier.other	DOI: 10.5897/JPHE2016.0812
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/783
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.publisher	Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology	en_US
dc.subject	Rational drug use	en_US
dc.subject	General policy documents	en_US
dc.subject	Medical guidelines	en_US
dc.title	Availability of guidelines and policy documents for enhancing performance of practitioners at the Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities in Gaborone, Tlokweng and Mogoditshane, Republic of Botswana.	en_US
dc.type	Article	en_US