Have ever felt discomfort in your health condition and felt that it was better to get some over-the-counter medication instead of seeking proper medical care at a clinic? If this is you, it is possible you weighed the stress of traveling to a hospital, waiting for hours to see the doctor, and traveling back home. This experience is common in most Nigerian healthcare facilities.
The Healthcare system in Nigeria is not working as well as it should. It is a challenge for hospitals to provide timely and quality care to patients. It is striking that the waiting time at hospitals has become one of the main issues that lead to patient dissatisfaction in our healthcare system. Nigerian hospitals are often understaffed and their staff is overworked. The staff is usually unable to keep up with the demand for care, which leads to long wait times for patients to see a doctor.
The most recent data from the World Bank indicates that the Nigerian government spends less than $10 per person on healthcare, which is the second lowest in the world. This lack of proper funding has led to a shortage of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.
While the waiting time in the outpatient setting is about 40 minutes and 60 minutes in the emergency unit in other countries, the waiting time in Nigeria is between 90 – 180 minutes for an outpatient visit. These long hours of wait in a health facility discourage patients from visiting hospitals when the need arises which leads to health challenges for the community as a whole.
The goal of this article is to present a strategy for reducing wait time in Nigerian hospitals.
We are going to do this using these strategies 1) Reduce waiting times by improving efficiency, 2) Improve communication with patients, and 3) Create more space for patients.
A number of factors are responsible for an inefficient healthcare organization. The lack of trained medical staff, insufficient equipment and supplies in hospitals, and overcrowding of patients in the hospital waiting room are contributors to inefficiency. In order to reduce wait time, hospitals need to adopt new strategies that will help them improve their efficiency.
The application of lean principles, tools, and techniques provides hospital managers with an evidence-based management approach to find the root cause of this problem in their facilities, resolve problems in the processing of patients from arrival to discharge and improve quality indicators in key focus areas, such as patient waiting times.
Another strategy for improving efficiency in Nigerian hospitals is to invest in technology. This can include investing in electronic medical records, which can help to reduce paperwork and streamline the patient intake process. Additionally, investing in telemedicine technology can help to reduce wait times by allowing patients to receive care remotely. Most hospitals still require the use of paper records which makes the patient registration process longer than is required. While hospitals with Electronic health records can register new and previous patients with a few clicks, most hospitals in Nigeria use paper records and require chasing down records before seeing the doctor. Shortening this process alone can reduce the waiting period by a third of what it is now.
The management of resources more efficiently is also required to reduce wait time. There is a high doctor-patient ratio in many healthcare centers across Nigeria due to the shortage of doctors and other healthcare providers. This is further exacerbated by the rapid growth in population and a corresponding increase in health and medical needs. Hospitals should try to hire more staff and purchase more supplies so that they can handle the increased workload without having to reschedule or turn away patients. They should also make sure they are using their current staff as efficiently as possible by assigning tasks based on skill level, rather than seniority.
Staff should be trained on how to handle emergencies better, implement better triage protocols, and create a system where people can book appointments online instead of having to come to the hospital. This is why having an electronic health record system is very essential at this moment.
One of the most effective strategies for reducing wait times is to improve the scheduling process. This can be done by implementing an online scheduling system that allows patients to book their appointments in advance. This will help to reduce the number of patients who show up at the hospital without an appointment, which can lead to long wait times. Additionally, it can help to streamline the scheduling process and ensure that appointments are scheduled in a timely manner. This process improves the communication between a patient and his healthcare provider. For example, if a patient has a routine check-up scheduled with a doctor next week but needs medical attention before then, they can use this system to schedule an emergency appointment with another doctor at that hospital instead of having to go physically to the hospital to get turned away.
Finally, Nigerian hospitals should focus on improving communication between staff members. This can be done by implementing a system for sharing patient information and ensuring that all staff members are aware of the patient’s current status. Additionally, having a system in place for sharing patient information between departments can help to reduce wait times and improve efficiency.
By implementing these strategies, Nigerian hospitals can reduce wait times and improve efficiency. This can help to improve the quality of care for patients and ensure that they receive the treatment they need in a timely manner.
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