Biology and Medicine

Abstrait

Medical Personnel's Quality Service Delivery to NHIS-HMO Outpatient Enrollees' in Lagos Hospitals and its Impact on COVID-19 Containment

Abigail Affiong Mkperedem*, Peter B Ogunlade, Chisaa O Igbolekwu, Ogadimma Arisukwu, Abiodun Olawale Afolabi

Purpose: The issue of quality in healthcare services depends heavily on the interactions between the service process; the customer as well as the health care providers. Thus, a question arises whether the perceived quality of medical personnel will have any impact on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic containment.

Methods: This study triangulated in its methodology. Using quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) to elicit data on enrollees’ perception, published articles on COVID-19 were reviewed to describe the plausible impact. Using a simple random and convenient sampling techniques, a total of 252 questionnaires and 9 in-depth interviews were used to elicit data from selected respondents across 9 healthcare facilities within the 3 senatorial districts, in Lagos, Nigeria.

Results: 69.8% of the respondents agreed that various medical personnel’s were involved in the execution of their treatment, 69.8% agreed that their medical history was factored into their treatment and 35.3% were not motivated by the attitude of the medical personnel’s. The medical personnel’s quality rating weighed 37.7%, fairly over 30.6% negative perception. IDI responses showed personnel’s quality was rated over attributes considered significant to the individual enrollees. Chi-square result shows significant correlation from the group comparisons existing betw een enrollees’ quality of medical personnel’s and enrollees’ perception (P<0.01, χ² (16)=82.265) and the Spearman’s correlation was positive at .219. COVID-19 reviews revealed evidence of an ongoing and increasing shortage of skilled health workforce and overwhelmed human resources.

Conclusion: Enrollees provided insights into how and what they considered significant in personnel’s quality assessment, making for a relevant recommendations that medical personnel’s should be educated on the relevance of their expertise in the attainment of patient health outcomes. Medical personnel’s quality should be prioritized at all times, not just during the COVID-19 pandemic.