Interprofessional Conflict Among Healthcare Teams in Nigeria: Implications on Quality of Patient Care

Abstract

Background: Patient care in Nigeria is essentially an interprofessional teamwork. The functionality of the team may have substantial implications on the quality of patient care as well as the professional satisfaction of individual professionals in the health team. This study was designed to identity if interprofessional conflicts existed in health teams in health institutions in southeast Nigeria, and to explore their nature, course, identify the extant resolution mechanisms and to start to identify and document feasible mechanisms to mitigate the conflicts. The aim is to enhance the functionality of health teams for an overall better patient care outcome.Method: An online questionnaire survey collected data from 58 health healthcare professionals in four healthcare settings in the southeast of Nigeria. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted resulting in seven central themes of conflict. The paper adopted narrative qualitative survey tools to survey a cohort of healthcare professionals who have practiced for varying periods. This study investigated the existence, or otherwise, and nature of the conflicts within health teams, probes the most at conflict as well as approaches being used in conflict resolution.Results: Many institutional conflicts exist among the healthcare teams. There are several conflict resolutions approaches that are being employed to resolve the conflicts. Most resolutions are simply the avoidance approach. Many of the conflicts potentially affect patient care outcomes but these are issues that could be resolved on a permanent to semi-permanent basis at local levels whilst others are broader institutional issues that will require external fixes. Discussion: There is a need to improve on the team process for healthcare professional early and systematically. Key or essential steps for doing this based on the importance of continued attentions to better patient care approaches are provided in this paper.

Nigeria mental health law: Challenges and implications for mental health services

“…Nwobodo et al noticed that this rivalry is mainly based on management and administrative roles. 28 In Section 6(2) the new law enacted the creation of a governing board of the commission, which consists of the chief executive and/or executive secretary, who must be a consultant psychiatrist, and presidents of the associations of psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists, medical social workers, and occupational therapists. The exemption of other healthcare practitioners who actively take part in the care of the patients with mental illness, such as radiographers, pharmacists, and medical laboratory scientists, can create a feeling of neglect.…”

Understanding the Nature and Sources of Conflict Among Healthcare Professionals in Nigeria: A Qualitative Study

“…Conflict in the health sector has been attributed to patient ownership, better disease management opinions, better patient-drug tussle, or the trust in inter-professional capabilities. 16 Although this disharmony is primarily prevalent in tertiary institutions, the complexity of inter-professional conflict in the health sector has been spread towards the primary and secondary health settings where there are fewer workforce and less structural complexity. 9 To a large extent, this is prominently reflected in the Nigerian health system and has, in turn, relayed deleterious implications on high-quality health service delivery in the country.…”

“… 9 To a large extent, this is prominently reflected in the Nigerian health system and has, in turn, relayed deleterious implications on high-quality health service delivery in the country. 16 Healthcare services in Nigeria are provided by both the private sector and the three tiers of government in the country. The public health sector is structured in such a way that the Federal Government superintends over the management of tertiary health facilities, the State Governments has the responsibility of running the secondary health facilities, and primary health facilities are operated by the Local Governments.…”

“… 22–25 , A review of extant literature revealed that the idealization of team work and collaborative practice has not been supported thus far in the Nigerian health system and this is displayed in the form of dysfunctional conflicts. 16 , 23 , 26 , 27 …”

“…22-25, A review of extant literature revealed that the idealization of team work and collaborative practice has not been supported thus far in the Nigerian health system and this is displayed in the form of dysfunctional conflicts. 16,23,26,27 Unhealthy and counterproductive incidents have been reported between physicians, nurses and other professionals involved in patient care at both local and national levels and have resulted in poor patient management, reduced motivation among health workers, as well as a reduced operational efficiency. 26 This has caused a clamor for description in the clinical hierarchy and the acknowledgement of inter-group professional expertise and experiences.…”