title: The clinical laboratory service: medical practitioners' satisfaction in southern Ethiopia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate medical practitioners' satisfaction with the clinical laboratory services by health institution in southern Ethiopia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey was undertaken from June 2013 through April 2014, which involved 290 medical practitioners from 19 health institutions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean (SD) overall satisfaction score was 3.36 (0.87) of 5.0. For most of the specific service categories, the highest rating was "good." The highest mean (SD) score was for clarity and readability of results (4.09 [0.99] of 5.0), while the lowest was for blood bank service (1.72 [1.88] of 5.0).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study identified wide room for improvement by the services provided from clinical laboratories. Corrective actions for the less satisfied service categories and continuous monitoring of laboratory activities are essential for the development of quality in clinical laboratories of health institutions in southern Ethiopia.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Hawassa University College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Hawassa, Ethiopia. misganawbs@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Misganaw Birhaneselassie
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Mengesha
mesh_terms: D064790:Clinical Laboratory Services; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005002:Ethiopia; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Clinical laboratory service; Medical practitioners; Satisfaction rate