Rajeshwari Bangalore Sathyananda
@iihmrbangalore.edu.in
Assistant Professor
Institute of Health Management Research, Bangalore
EDUCATION
B.D.S., P.G.D.H.P, M.Phil, Ph.D.
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Health Policy, Health Professions, Health Information Management
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
R Bangalore Sathyananda, A Krumeich, U Manjunath, A de Rijk, and CP van Schayck
SAGE Publications
India's healthcare system is, for a large part, organized around a vast network of Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) that form the pillar on which the public healthcare sector functions. The World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized the important role that PHCs play in strengthening community health and the provision of healthcare. Although a few studies have assessed specific elements of services offered by PHCs, only a few have studied the patients’ perspectives on the functioning and performance of PHCs in the Indian context. A qualitative research methodology was employed to explore the opinions of 188 patients attending one of three PHCs in Bengaluru (India), using in-depth interviews and thematic analysis. Results showed that patients assessed PHC based on the nine themes that broadly can be classified into components of the center, and that of the personnel. The patients valued the behavioural aspects of the personnel during service delivery and should be configured into the PHC performance.
Rajeshwari Bangalore Sathyananda, Angelique De Rijk, Usha Manjunath, Anja Krumeich, Onno Van Schayck, and
Australasian College of Health Service Management
Background: Primary healthcare in India comprises health promotion and preventive health interventions at the population level, which are rendered at dedicated centres called Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs). The performance of PHCs is vital for overall improvement in the general health of the population, specifically in a low- and middle-income country like India. It is unknown how performance at the centre level is related to performance at the provider and patient levels. The aim of this study is to explore patterns in the performance of three PHCs with a low, medium and the high number of babies delivered.
 Methodology: Primary and secondary data from the three selected PHCs were collected. Two questionnaire studies were done: one on the well-being of providers (Quality of Life and Engagement), and another on PHC performance as assessed by patients using the newly developed tool ‘Questionnaire for Patient’s Perspective on Performance of Primary Healthcare Centres’. The data from the centre, provider and patient levels were compared across the three centres using ANOVA tests.
 Results: The new tool had high internal consistency at Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.938. It was found that the PHC with the least delivery had significantly higher PHC performance in comparison with high and medium-delivery PHCs (p<0.000).
 Conclusion: The PHC performance assessment from multiple perspectives offers a realistic insight into the centres, which is valid even though agreement on the various perspectives could not be obtained. The new Q4PHC is a reliable instrument to assess PHC performance from the patient’s perspective.
Rajeshwari Bangalore Sathyananda, Anja Krumeich, Usha Manjunath, Angelique Rijk, and C. P. Schayck
Wiley
Abstract Background Primary healthcare centres (PHCs) form the foundation of the Indian public health system, and thus their effective functioning is paramount in ensuring the population's health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has set six aspects of performance assessment for general health systems, which are hardly applicable to the PHC setup in a low‐ and middle‐income country. The Primary Health Care Performance Initiative (PHCPI) has prescribed a framework with five domains consisting of 36 indicators for primary healthcare performance assessment from a policy point of view. For the assessment to be realistic, it should include inputs from stakeholders involved in care delivery, so this study examines the perspectives of healthcare providers at PHCs in India. Methodology The authors used qualitative research methodology in the form of responsive evaluations of healthcare provider's interviews to understand the indicators of PHC performance. Results and Conclusion The study results showed that healthcare providers considered efficient teamwork, opportunities for enhancing provider skills and knowledge, job satisfaction, effective PHC administration, and good community relationship as PHC performance assessment. These domains of performance could be considered the ‘missing link’ in PHC assessment, since they are deemed important by providers and did not coincide with the WHO aspects and the PHCPI performance assessment framework.
R. Bangalore Sathyananda, A. de Rijk, U. Manjunath, A. Krumeich, and C. P. van Schayck
Springer Science and Business Media LLC