Table 1 Hospital statistics (2018) and socio-demographic characteristics of participants

Hospital

 Bed number

218

(7.3)

414

(13.8)

868

(29.0)

725

(24.2)

765

(25.6)

2990

 Bed occupancy rate

54%

70%

59%

66%

69%

64.4%

Laboratories

 Unit number

14

(36.8)

6

(15.8)

5

(13.2)

8

(21.1)

5

(13.2)

38

 Staff number

  Doctors

33

(19.5)

26

(12.6)

26

(8.8)

60

(5.9)

26

(11.4)

171

(8.9)

  Technicians

121

(71.6)

169

(81.6)

242

(82.0)

941

(93.0)

189

(82.5)

1662

(86.9)

  Phlebotomists

15

(8.9)

12

(5.8)

27

(9.2)

11

(1.1)

14

(6.1)

79

(4.1)

 Test number (in millions)

1.684

(6.6)

7.441

(29.0)

4.518

(17.6)

6.343

(24.7)

5.698

(22.2)

25.684

Participants

 Response rate

42.2%

46.7%

58.2%

10.0%

68.8%

30.6%

 Gender

 < .001

  Male

23

(35.4)

23

(25.3)

69

(44.5)

28

(28.0)

73

(49.3)

216

(38.6)

  Female

42

(64.6)

68

(74.7)

86

(55.5)

72

(72.0)

75

(50.7)

343

(61.4)

 Age

.166

  Below 30 years

27

(41.5)

31

(34.1)

34

(21.8)

31

(31.6)

53

(35.8)

176

(31.5)

  30–45 years

31

(47.7)

41

(45.1)

90

(57.7)

53

(54.1)

71

(48.0)

286

(51.3)

  46–55 years

5

(7.7)

9

(9.9)

18

(11.5)

7

(7.1)

16

(10.8)

55

(9.9)

  Over 55 years

2

(3.1)

10

(11.0)

14

(9.0)

7

(7.1)

8

(5.4)

41

(7.3)

 Nationality

 < .001

  Kuwaiti

36

(55.4)

47

(51.6)

46

(29.7)

52

(52.0)

17

(11.6)

198

(35.5)

  Non-Kuwaiti

29

(44.6)

44

(48.4)

109

(70.3)

48

(48.0)

130

(88.4)

360

(64.5)

 Profession

.002

   Doctor

10

(15.4)

14

(15.6)

5

(3.2)

18

(18.0)

20

(13.6)

.378

67

(12.0)

   Assistant register

 − 

 − 

1

(7.1)

 − 

 − 

5

(27.8)

1

(5.0)

7

(10.4)

   Register

3

(30.0)

3

(21.4)

2

(40.0)

5

(27.8)

11

(55.0)

24

(35.8)

   Senior register

3

(30.0)

3

(21.4)

3

(60.0)

3

(16.7)

3

(15.0)

15

(22.4)

   Specialist

1

(10.0)

3

(21.4)

 − 

 − 

3

(16.7)

2

(10.0)

9

(13.4)

   Senior specialist

1

(10.0)

1

(7.1)

 − 

 − 

1

(5.6)

2

(10.0)

5

(7.5)

   Consultant

2

(20.0)

3

(21.4)

 − 

 − 

1

(5.6)

1

(5.0)

7

(10.4)

   Technician

55

(84.6)

76

(84.4)

151

(96.8)

82

(82.0)

127

(86.4)

 < .001

491

(88.0)

   Assistant practitioner

2

(3.6)

5

(6.6)

7

(4.7)

6

(7.4)

8

(6.3)

28

(5.7)

   Practitioner

13

(23.6)

6

(7.9)

5

(3.3)

9

(11.1)

2

(1.6)

35

(7.2)

   Senior practitioner

5

(9.1)

 − 

 − 

8

(5.3)

4

(4.9)

4

(3.1)

21

(4.3)

   Assistant technician

 − 

 − 

3

(3.9)

10

(6.7)

1

(1.2)

8

(6.3)

22

(4.5)

   Technician

28

(50.9)

37

(48.7)

71

(47.3)

42

(51.9)

85

(66.9)

263

(53.8)

   Senior technician

4

(7.3)

7

(9.2)

21

(14.0)

3

(3.7)

4

(3.1)

39

(8.0)

   Specialist

3

(5.5)

9

(11.8)

10

(6.7)

6

(7.4)

7

(5.5)

35

(7.2)

   Senior specialist

 − 

 − 

9

(11.8)

18

(12.0)

10

(12.3)

9

(7.1)

46

(9.4)

 Position

.010

  Head of department

3

(4.8)

1

(1.1)

1

(0.7)

 − 

 − 

 − 

 − 

5

(0.9)

  Head of unit

2

(3.2)

3

(3.4)

2

(1.3)

 − 

 − 

4

(2.8)

11

(2.0)

  Laboratory doctor

6

(9.5)

10

(11.2)

4

(2.7)

15

(15.6)

16

(11.1)

51

(9.4)

  Head of laboratory technicians

2

(3.2)

4

(4.5)

6

(4.0)

3

(3.1)

2

(1.4)

17

(3.1)

  Technician

50

(79.4)

71

(79.8)

137

(91.3)

78

(81.3)

122

(84.7)

458

(84.5)

 Unit

 < .001

  Microbiology

 − 

 − 

19

(20.9)

35

(24.1)

20

(20.0)

37

(25.0)

111

(20.2)

  Hematology

1

(1.5)

31

(34.1)

50

(34.5)

42

(42.0)

56

(37.8)

180

(32.8)

  Biochemistry

11

(16.9)

27

(29.7)

44

(30.3)

1

(1.0)

43

(29.1)

126

(23.0)

  Histopathology

13

(20.0)

6

(6.6)

10

(6.9)

17

(17.0)

5

(3.4)

51

(9.3)

  Immunology

16

(24.6)

 − 

 − 

 − 

 − 

11

(11.0)

 − 

 − 

27

(4.9)

  Virology

15

(23.1)

 − 

 − 

6

(4.1)

9

(9.0)

7

(4.7)

37

(6.7)

  Molecular genetics

9

(13.8)

 − 

 − 

 − 

 − 

 − 

 − 

 − 

9

(1.6)

  Reception

 − 

 − 

8

(8.8)

 − 

 − 

 − 

 − 

 − 

8

(1.5)