Patients’ Perception of Communicative Behaviour of Caregivers in Lagos Public Hospitals

Abstract

Adequate attitudes and communicative skills are among the essential objectives in the health care sector. The communicative behaviour of medical care givers is important skill required to mitigate the morbidity and mortality of diseases. This study assessed the patients’ perception of communicative behaviour of medical care givers in selected public hospitals in Lagos state where 150 respondents were purposively selected and copies of questionnaire were administered to them. The three government hospitals are Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Island Maternity and Agbowa Medical centre. In addition, interviews were conducted with key medical practitioners at the three public hospitals. Findings from the analysis revealed that patients’ in government hospitals do not perceive the medical care givers in public hospitals as been communicative and responsive to their emotions but they are perceived as being competent. The study recommends that medical caregivers should be trained in areas of interpersonal communication skills so that they would understand and implement these communication skills to improve the healthcare system in the country.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n2p677