Help desk projects in Bagalkot and Bijapur.
Patients especially from rural areas find it difficult to navigate their way through institutions like district hospitals. This is one of the reasons for poor utilization of hospital services by the poor and vulnerable. In order to mitigate this barrier KHSDRP introduced a help-desk in all the district hospitals.
The study duration : 2008 – 2009
The main objective of these help desk were to 1) guide the patients to the right rooms, 2) to facilitate healthcare for the patients and 3) redress the grievances of the patients. IPH tried to understand whether this intervention would improve the quality of care for the patients.
Implementation research in Bijapur and Bagalkot where IPH placed researchers in the help desks to study if the desired outcomes from the intervention were met.
The help desk was useful in guiding the patients to the appropriate locations and thereby reduce waiting time. It could not benefit the patients in terms of care not solve the patients’ grievances. One of the main reasons for the latter was the differential understanding between the programme organisers (KHSDRP) and the programme implementers (district surgeons).
The Study Team
N. Devadasan
Bheemaray V M
Funding
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