25/09/2025
NHIA STAKEHOLDERS’ FORUM, NECA HOUSE, ALAUSA IKEJA, LAGOS
24TH SEPTEMBER,2025
SPEAKER: OSIMI CHUKWUKA FRANK,
HEAD OF HMO CUSTOMERCARE UNIT,
COUNTY HOSPITAL LTD.,OGBA-LAGOS, NIGERIA.
WHATSAPP:+2349080716061.
TOPIC: THE NEED FOR QUALITY HEALTH DELIVERY IN HOSPITALS:THEPLACE OF EMPATHY IN ACHIEVING QUALITY HEALTH DELIVERY.
This seminar paper looks at theneed for quality health delivery in hospitals and other healthcare providers. Itplaces emphasis on the place of empathy on the part of the healthcareprofessional- doctor, nurse, HMO customer care attendant, etc., in providing and achieving quality health delivery, with a view to ensuring patient’ssafety, satisfaction and wellness.
Relying on World HealthOrganization (WHO) and other medical sources, the paper defines healthcare andquality health delivery. It then examinesbriefly, the key aspects and aims ofquality health delivery. It also defines empathy and examines why it matters inhealth delivery. The paper concludes by identifying the factors causing adecline of empathy and howthat militates against provision of quality healthdelivery across healthcare providers and offers suggestions on how to bringabout increase level of empathy on the part of healthcare professionals, fort he good, wellness and satisfaction of the patients.
DEFINITION OFHEALTHCARE
Relying on Healthcare Technology(an online health blog), ‘’Healthcare is an organized way of medical careconcerned with the maintenance of the health of the whole body’’. It isdelivered by the healthcare providers or professionals in various fields,including pharmacy, nursing, dentistry, psychology, medicine, etc.
DEFINITION OF QUALITYHEALTH DELIVERY
Relying on World Health Organization (WHO), ‘’Quality health delivery involves providing safe,effective, and patient-centered healthcare services that improve desired healthoutcomes and align with current professional knowledge and patientexpectations’’.
KEY ASPECTS AND AIMS OF QUALITY HEALTH DELIVERY
1. Safety:Healthcare services should be safe. They should be provided without harm to thepatient.
2. Effectiveness:Provision of healthcare should be anchored or based on current scientific (notoutdated) knowledge and should lead to desired health outcomes for the patient.
3. Patient-Centeredness: Provision of healthcare services by the healthcareprovider or professional to the patient should be respectful, and responsive toindividual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensures patientinvolvement in decisions about their care.
4. Timeliness:Provision of healthcare by the healthcare provider should be done withoutharmful delays. Waiting time should be reduced to the barest minimum.Unnecessary wasting of time by the healthcare provider before provision ofhealthcare services to the patient can cause harm to the patient.
5. Equity:Thehealthcare provider should not be biased in attending to his/her patient basedon the patient’s social or other considerations. That is, care should not varyin quality due to personal characteristics like gender, ethnicity, orsocioeconomic status.
6. Efficiency:Healthcare resources should be applied or used effectively to provide the bestpossible benefits and avoid waste.
7. Integration:Servicesshould be coordinated and readily available across different stages of apatient’s life. The factors influencing qualityhealthcare delivery include professional knowledge on the part of thehealthcare provider, patient expectations, system design (the efficiency androbustness of the systems, processes, and infrastructure of the healthcare facility), provider factor (the competency, motivation, and training of the healthcare professionals), accessibility (the ease with which patients can access and afford healthcare services).
EMPATHY IN HEALTHCARE DELIVERY
Relying on notes from Harvard Medical School, ‘’Patient empathy in healthcare delivery is the act of a healthcare professional understanding and responding to a patient’s emotions, concerns ,and experiences from the patient’s perspective, which leads to better trust ,communication, patient satisfaction, and improved health outcome’’.
Empathy involves activelylistening, acknowledging feelings, and showing genuine acceptance and care, transforming potentially NEGATIVE healthcare experiences into positive ones.
Developing empathy requires both cognitiveand emotional capacities, can be learned through education and practice, and isessential for patient-centered care and reducing healthcare disparities.
WHY EMPATHY MATTERSIN HEALTHCARE DELIVERY
1. Empathy Helps In Building Trust And Connection:between the healthcare professional and the patient.
2. Empathetic Communication:helps healthcare professionals or providers connectwith patients on a deeper, more human level, making patients feel heard,valued, and more likely to share critical information useful for achieving moreaccurate diagnosis required for achieving better treatment outcome.
3. Improves Outcome:Patients who feel understood by the healthcare professional are morelikely to follow treatment plans. This leads to better clinical outcomes,satisfaction, and fewer medical complications.
4. Empathy Reduces Patient Distress: The presence of empathy can reduce patient anxiety,stress, and fear, thereby creating a more positive supportive care environment.
5. Empathy Helps In Enhancing Diagnostic Accuracy:Empathetic communication allows patients to articulatetheir symptoms and concerns in more detail, providing vital information foraccurate diagnoses.
6. Empathy Helps In Reducing Burnout: For healthcare professionals, practicing empathy canlead to greater job satisfaction and fulfilment. This helps in reducing burnout.
HOW TO CULTIVATE ANDEXPRESS EMPATHY
1. Active Listening:Focus on understanding the patient’s concerns by listening attentivelyand picking up on no-verbal cues.
2. Understanding The Patient’s World: The healthcare professional is expected to go beyondthe medical condition to understand the patient’s life circumstances, which canprovide context for their health concerns.
3. Cultural Competence:Recognize how cultural background influence a patient’s experience andtailor communication accordingly to be more attentive and supportive.
4. Self-Reflection And Education:The healthcare professional should engage incontinuous learning and reflection to develop virtue and skill, rather thanjust a cognitive exercise.
5. Integrated Care System:Incorporate empathy into the foundation of healthcaredelivery through education programmes and tools designed to support empatheticskills for healthcare professionals and workers.
FACTORS CAUSING A DECLINE OF EMPATHY AMONG HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS
The factors responsible for adecline of empathy among healthcare professionals include heavy workloads,burnout, poor motivation and remunerations, and inadequacy of relevant worktools, stress, poor or ineffective training, patient-related factors and biases that can lead to a lack of emotional connection.
SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TOBRING ABOUT INCREASE LEVEL OF EMPATHY AMONG HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS AND WORKERS
1. To bring about increase level of empathy amonghealthcare professionals and workers, there is need for the government andother employers of labour in the health sector to do the following:
1.Employ more hands with a view to reducing the challenge of heavy workloads facing the few healthcare professionals andworkers in Nigeria.
2. Provision of better remunerations and other incentivesto healthcare professionals and workers.
3. Provision of relevant, up to date medical and otherwork tools required by healthcare professionals and workers to do their jobeffectively and efficiently.
4. Increase the number of duties/shifts for healthcareprofessionals with a view to reducing too much work and stress.
5. Sponsorship, training, and re-training of healthcareprofessionals on modern healthcare skills, ethics, and empathy.
6. Educate patients on the need to corporate withhealthcare professionals and the need for mutual respect, with a view toreducing possible areas of friction between them.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, healthcaredelivery is built or anchored on empathy. Empathy is a fundamental component of patient-centered care, whichfocuses on the patient's experience and needs. When healthcare professionals andproviders demonstrate empathy, they acknowledge the patient’s vulnerability andhumanity. This helps in transforming a potentially negative encounter into onethat is supportive and constructive, ultimately improving the quality of careand patient’s overall health journey.
Thank you for listening to mylecture.
Osimi, Chukwuka Frank.
