Conditions and Cleanliness

Anchoring Vignettes for Cleanliness

Questions:

Overall, how would you rate [name of person/your] experience with the conditions and cleanliness at the health facility?

Response categories:

1. Very good
2. Good
3. Moderate
4. Bad
5. Very bad

Vignettes:

1. [Albert] visits his doctor once a month to collect a prescription. The doctor's office has comfortable chairs in the waiting room and clean toilets. It is well lit, and there are magazines and booklets to read while waiting.

2. [Shelley] has a child in hospital for a minor operation. She visits the child regularly. The child is in a room with 5 other children. They each have their own beds, enough sheets and blankets. She observed that the hospital staff changed the bedding when the child had wet the bed. The room was at a pleasant temperature with enough fresh air.

3. [Shedra] had to be hospitalised last year for a hip operation. The ward was comfortable and cleaned by the hospital staff and the sheets were changed daily. The bed was comfortable and the bathroom clean. The hospital meals were adequate. The food tasted good and meals were served regularly.

4. [Wing] is in hospital for a few weeks. Usually, the amount of food is enough but occasionally [Wing] felt that the food portions could have been a bit larger. During the day, the temperature in the hospital has been very comfortable, but one night it was a bit cold. The place was cleaned frequently.

5. [José] woke up one morning with a stiff neck. He decided to go to the clinic that afternoon to find out what was wrong. The staff in the clinic included a cleaner, a nurse and a doctor. The cleaner swept the place in the morning and if it was needed during the day. There was no air conditioning or table fan ventilation but the room did not get uncomfortably warm.

6. [José] was admitted to a local hospital for a week as he had developed high fever. The room was clean but small, and the toilet was a few metres away down the corridor. It was summer and hot, and the room was without any air conditioning or fan but he brought his own table fan from home.

7. [Hans] had an eye operation in a local clinic last month. After the operation, he spent 5 days in a room that he had to share with four others with no partitions between beds. He was provided a small locker to keep his things. The five patients shared a toilet. The room as well as the toilet were cleaned every second day. Between cleaning, the toilet sometimes blocked and smelt a little.

8. [Fouad] goes to the local public hospital whenever he needs to. The hospital is large but crowded. The waiting rooms are noisy and poorly ventilated. The hospital is generally kept clean though the toilets tend to smell by the end of the day.

9. [Malika] has ongoing stomach problems and has to go to the dispensary regularly. The place is very crowded, there are not enough chairs for people to sit on as they wait for the doctor. The place is not cleaned regularly and tends to be full of litter. The corridors are dark and the lights and fans often do not work.

10. [Kamal] has a nervous breakdown and had to spend 3 months in the past year in the local hospital. He had to sleep on an uncomfortable mattress with no sheets. There were 30 other patients in the same dormitory style ward and the toilets would smell, because they were not cleaned. He came back with a skin infection, because he couldn't wash regularly and there were insects in the bed.