Assessment of inventory management and availability of microbiology laboratory supplies in public health facilities in the greater Kampala metropolitan area, Uganda.

Abstract

Background: Inappropriate prescribing of antimicrobial agents has been attributed mostly to poor diagnosis of infectious agents. Effective provision of microbiology testing services to support diagnosis of infectious agents requires appropriate availability of necessary reagents and infection control commodities. Availability of the laboratory supplies is partly affected by proper inventory control, storage management and utilization of logistic management information system. There is limited data on availability and inventory management of microbiology laboratory supplies in Uganda. This study assessed the inventory management and availability of microbiology laboratory commodities in public health facilities. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in thirty microbiology laboratories in public health facilities in greater Kampala Metropolitan area. A standard ATLAS 2017 tool was adapted and used to collect data. Data was cleaned, entered into EPI DATA version 3.1 and analyzed with SPSS version 26. Results: Many laboratories had set maximum (66.7%) and minimum (73.3%) stock levels for reagents and consumables. Nearly half (46.7%) of facilities placed at least one emergency order in a period of one year. Only 20% of the laboratories used both electronic and paper-based LMIS with the rest using only paper based. Stock cards were used in almost every laboratory (93.3%) but some were not updated regularly. Standard printed request and reporting forms were used by 66.7% of the facilities. Storage management was generally good with FEFO practiced at 100% while the use of written instructions for storing lab supplies least practiced at 76.7%. Less than (43%) of the labs reported some difficulties with storage such as insufficient shelving, power shortages and lack of training in inventory management. Overall availability of reagents on the day of visit was 86.8% and only 30% of the facilities had all the reagents available on the day of visit. Availability of infection control commodities was generally good at 100% in hospitals and lowest in HCIV at 93.2. Conclusion: The gaps identified in inventory management were un updated stock cards, long lead times, lack of printed request and reporting forms and inadequacies in storage conditions. Few facilities had all the laboratory reagents on the day of visit. These gaps should be addressed through training and mentorship of laboratory staff in inventory management.