ABUJA – Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on Thursday urged Nigerian healthcare workers to improve their attitude toward patients for better service delivery.
The Chief Representative of JICA in Nigeria, Mr Tetsuo Seki, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at a workshop for health workers in Abuja.
According to him, attitude is cardinal in improving the quality of services rendered by any hospital.
“When patients come to a hospital they expect to be cared for and love by all staff.
“That is why we advise health workers to practise what we call “5S-KAIZEN-TQM” which is a quality assurance tool used for the improvement of the quality of service.
“5s-KAIZEN stands for sort, set, shine, standardise and sustain, these qualities are very essential in hospital management.
“This principle which originated from the manufacturing industry in Japan, has been adapted to improve the quality of healthcare services,’’ he said.
Seki also stressed the need for health workers to improve their work place environment as it could affect their attitude and impression of patients.
He commended the Maitama General hospital, Abuja, for implementing the 5s in their service delivery which had earned the hospital an award.
In another interview, Mrs Yetunde Obazee, a staff of Maitama Hospital, said the 5s principles if practised in hospitals would boost staff moral and safety of patients.
She explained the 5s, saying sort, set, shine, standardise and sustain meant removing unused stuff from work place environment to reduce clutter, organise the place to make it clean and sustain the effort.
Obazee also advised participants to improve on their attitude to achieve good relationship with patients, colleagues and the general public.
She expressed optimism that community healthcare workers would also receive training on how to relate with patients and ensure cleanliness at work place.
Also speaking, Mrs Helen Akhigbe-Chikelu, Assistant Chief Programmes Officer, Federal Ministry of Health, expressed appreciation to the Japanese agency for supporting the training. (NAN)
