IMPACT OF POOR COMMUNICATION AND TEAM COLLABORATION AS A TOOL FOR EFFECTIVE HEALTH CARE SERVICE DELIVERY IN FEDERAL TEACHING HOSPITAL IDO-EKITI

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out on the impact of poor communication and team collaboration as a tool for effective health care service delivery in federal teaching hospital Ido-Ekiti. The survey design was adopted and the simple random sampling techniques were employed in this study. The population size comprise of staff of federal teaching hospital Ido-Ekiti. In determining the sample size, the researcher purposefully selected 53 respondents and 50 were validated. Self-constructed and validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The collected and validated questionnaires were analyzed using frequency tables. While the hypotheses were tested using chi-square statistical tool. The result of the findings reveals that poor communication affects effective health care service delivery in federal teaching hospital Ido-Ekiti. The study also revealed that team collaboration promotes effectiveness in delivering healthcare services. The findings of the study further revealed that effective communication will promote team collaboration, hence facilitating excellent healthcare service delivery in federal teaching hospital Ido-Ekiti. Therefore, it is recommended that team building activities should be designed, planned, executed and monitored in such a way that it will enhance open communication, collaboration and flexibility in order to create effective cohesion and synergy to enhance team effectiveness and performance among healthcare workers. And team’s esprit de corps is a situation in which a group of people jointly depend on one another. This should be strengthened by making sure that people of like minds are put together in a team so that the hospitals can enjoy the full potential of such teams. To mention but a few.

 

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Communication is defined as "the transmission or exchanging of ideas, views, or information through voice, writing, or signs," according to Webster's Dictionary. It is essential to keep in mind that communication comes in many forms than only the verbal one. According to the findings of one study, the body language, attitude, and tone of voice have a greater impact on communication than the actual words said. The words themselves are responsible for just 7 percent of the meaning and purpose. Even while the substance of what is being said is what is most important, the manner those words are delivered—including how a person stands, how they talk, and how they look at another person—can have a significant impact on how those words are understood. On the other hand, crucial information is often sent by handwritten notes, e-mails, or text messages, which increases the risk of significant repercussions in the event that a misunderstanding occurs (Guzzo & Dickenson 1996).

Collaboration in health care is described as the assumption of complementary responsibilities by health care professionals and the cooperative working together of those experts to solve problems and make choices in order to create and carry out care plans for patients. The team members' awareness of each other's kind of knowledge and abilities is increased as a result of collaboration between doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals. This leads to continual progress in decision making.

Trust, respect, and collaboration are the three pillars that support the success of teams. Deming is widely considered to be one of the most influential advocates for collaboration. team collaboration, he says, is endemic to a system in which all workers are working for the benefit of a purpose, who have a shared target, and who work together to attain that aim. When thinking about ways to improve patient care via team collaboration, it is important to take an interdisciplinary perspective. An interdisciplinary approach, as opposed to a multidisciplinary one, in which each team member is responsible only for the activities related to his or her own discipline and formulates separate goals for the patient, brings together a joint effort on behalf of the patient with a common goal from all disciplines involved in the care plan. This is in contrast to a multidisciplinary approach, in which each team member is responsible only for the activities related to his or her own discipline. Integrated interventions are the result of sharing specialist services with one another. The plan of care takes into consideration the many evaluations and treatment regimens, and it bundles these services to produce a personalised care program that best suits the requirements of the patient. The patient reports that communication is simpler with the cohesive team, as opposed to the multiple professionals who are not aware of what the other members of the patient-management team are doing to manage the patient (Obansa & Osrimisan 2013).

It is essential to highlight the fact that cultivating an environment that is conducive to teamwork and collaboration may involve overcoming challenges such as the need for additional time, the perception of a loss of autonomy, a lack of confidence or trust in the decisions made by others, conflicting perceptions, territorialism, and a lack of awareness on the part of one provider of the education, knowledge, and skills possessed by colleagues who work in other fields and professions. However, the majority of these challenges are surmountable if one adopts an open mindset and cultivates emotions of mutual respect and trust with one another. According to the findings of a study, enhanced team collaboration and communication are among the most essential characteristics that health care employees regard as being among the most crucial in increasing clinical effectiveness and job satisfaction.

​​​​​​​STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

All inhabitants of Nigeria are entitled to high-quality health as one of their basic rights. Despite the fact that health care (PHC) centers are relatively uniformly distributed throughout local government areas (LGAs) in Nigeria, the rural people have a tendency to under use the basic health services, and the main reason for this is due to poor communication and team collaboration among the staff (Obansa & Osrimisan 2013). Policymakers, and more especially a lack of communication and teamwork, should bear some of the blame for the continued existence of a subpar health care delivery system. Health for all, including that of rural communities, will no longer be a fantasy but a reality by the year 2015 if responsible health workers are able to construct a new social order based on greater equality and human dignity. This new social order can be built by health personnel (Obansa & Osrimisan 2013). In order to further improve the utilization of health services by the populations, capacity building and empowerment of communities through orientation, mobilization, and community organization in terms of training, information sharing, and continuous dialogue are two factors that could be implemented.