Experts have charged healthcare providers in the public and private health facilities on improved Patient-Centred Care (PCC) to increase Nigeria’s health indices. They gave the submission at the Healthcare Leadership Academy (HLA) Patient-Centered Care (PCC) training programme, designed for front-line clinicians across all cadres and disciplines (including, but not limited to, doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, optometrists, physiotherapists and pharmacists), which according to the Executive Director, Dr. Hala Daggash is aimed at equipping them with the knowledge and tools required to provide improved patient-centered care and offer optimal healthcare services.She said patients are the first point of contact of healthcare providers, adding that to improve better outcomes in hospitals, there must be “developed communication skills; understanding of patient safety, core medico-legal and ethical principles, understanding of quality improvement as well as increasing accessibility to service points within the hospital.” The Medical Director, Alimosho General Hospital, Igando, Lagos, Dr. Madewa Adebajo stressed that healthcare providers should show empathy to their patients and meet their expectations, adding that after several surveys carried out, it was found that the average patient needs quality care, friendly atmosphere total cure for their illnesses
“The word hospitality is from the hospital and people come to the hospital expecting some of the hospitality, we as healthcare providers need to meet the patients and find out their challenges, and when we do, we need to sit down and postulate how we can meet those challenges. When we reduce the waiting hours of patients in receiving care, patients would be happy, so PCC is about finding out what the patients expect from you and you equipping yourself to be able to give the patients that service they want and also meet their expectations,” he said.
