One clinic

An in-depth case study was done looking at two primary care clinics serving the same community. One clinic is a typical government-funded public sector clinic offering a comprehensive 24-hour service the other is an NGO-funded day clinic offering a range of primary care services. The aim of the research was to understand and explore key issues in the functioning of the two clinics, in order to draw out lessons for district management teams. A variety of information was collected, using different methods. This included patient statistics, staff numbers, stock levels of drugs, perceptions of patients in the clinic and of people in the surrounding community, perceptions of staff using both questionnaires and individual interviews, perceptions of students, participant observations, etc. Comparison of each set of data collected in the two clinics was done, to highlight common issues and to understand similarities and differences.