OSOGBO – Dr Segun Babatunde, a physician at Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH), on Tuesday advocated inter-disciplinary patient management in health-related institutions.
Babatunde, a member of the palliative care unit at the hospital, said this in Osogbo in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said that with the development of palliative care in modern medical practice, there was the need for medical trainees to be grounded in inter-disciplinary patient management.
“At many professional workshops, we have come across nurses and physiotherapists alleging doctors of being indisposed to release patients for specialised treatment.
“There are a lot of contemporary developments in the medical world that are in the interest of improved health care delivery.
“However, if entrants into these new departments in the medical world are not well indoctrinated, there may be cases of protecting territories while treating patients.
“There are times when a general practitioner is taking care of patients, even those with terminal illnesses.
“A trained palliative giver may however think he is more appropriate to see that such patients are given specialised handling.
“When a case like this happens, it tends to bring up frictions where none exist among professionals in the medical field,’’ Babatunde said.
He also suggested for the introduction of a curriculum on inter-disciplinary patient management in schools of health sciences, nursing and midwifery as well as medical colleges.
“When this is done, it becomes easier for professionals to relate to the utmost advantage of patients.
“In fact, patients with terminal illnesses now require, more than ever, all round specialised palliative care for the period that they are alive,’’ he said. (NAN)
