Water Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) Tool Box plus for rapid assessment of Healthcare facilities: Experiences from India v1
Year: 2020
Type: preprint
Abstract: Optimal Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Healthcare Facilities (HCFs) is essential to provide quality universal healthcare to all as mentioned in the goal 6 of SDGs. However, the method of measuring the quality of WASH standards in individual HCFs seems to be impractical due to complicated guidelines and lack of trained WASH experts to assess the same at the facility level. This paper aims to set the simple scoring tool on how hospital manager themselves can assess the WASH status in healthcare facilities even at the departmental level, which might assist them to take the need-based steps to improve the WASH status within different departments of HCFs. The analytical hierarchical process (AHP) and decision-tree analysis were used to develop “WASH Tool Box (+)” and to identify the appropriate technique of WASH assessment. For that four-steps includes listing, ranking, scoring and analyzing the WASH indicators were followed. The results suggest that 50 indicators under the four criteria water, sanitation, hygiene and biomedical waste management can be triangulated to identify AHP. By using two different techniques, all50 indicators were ranked (prioritizing rank & Likert scale) and scored (2-1-0 & (+1)-0-(-1)) and the sensitivity analysis was conducted, which suggest that prioritized ranking and positive weighted scoring method is better than Likert rank and negative scoring. Results also suggest that rank methods and weighted scoring will be a better method for estimation of WASH, than unranked and unweighted scores. Thus, WASH Tool Box (+) can be used with operational ease for quick WASH assessment at either facility level or department wise.
Language: English
Subfield: Health Information Management
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4255414760