CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The working relationship among health care workers is the ability to work together as people from diverse field of work aiming at protecting and improving the health of the community members through sufficient cooperation in order to give quality health care services.

According to Combs (2014) health workers are people whose job is to protect and improve the health of their communities. Together these health workers in all their diversity make up the global health workforce. Health workers are people that are engaged in actions whose primary intention is to enhance health. This meaning extends from WHO’S definition of the health system as comprising, activities whose primary goal is to improve health. Within the health workers are social care givers, there are different field professionals whose work is to promote health and well being.

Working relationship has impact on patients satisfaction, quality of healthcare delivery with respect to the client’s/patient’s goals and expectations/productivity. It promote organization/health system, affects communication that could lead to poor health care services as it could interfere with the instructions needed for successful services or productions.

Annabel (1989) puts it that relationship means feelings between people. It is however important to have a good relationship between one another as this goes a long way to foster spirit of togetherness or oneness thereby affecting work output in any organization.

Hack-Halloron (1978) defines human relations as all the interactions that occurs among people whether they are conflicts or cooperative. Good working relationship of people in any organization and the aspect of integrating, motivating and activating them to accomplish individual and organizational goals is the main concern.

In the healthcare perspective, Peplau, (2011) described nursing as a therapeutic interpersonal relationship which facilitates the growth and development of both client and nurse. It helps the client to progress towards constructive living. The health workers – patients relationship is essential to health care services especially nursing practice. It is the interaction that enhance the patient and clients well being as an individual, a family, a group or a community.

Effective working relationship has the ability to formally convey information to other people, to bring change in a situation or someone thereby strengthening the relationship. It has the ability to promote organization/section, to monitor and evaluate job performance, to promote teamwork for the benefit of the health workers in giving quality health care services. Effective communication brings about clear and precise instructions and information’s and the needs for crucial contributions to the services or productivity in the health care system leading to quality care to the patients/clients and improving the health of the patient and community members through sufficient cooperation in order to give quality health care services. Annabel (1989) emphasized that it is important to good relationship between one another as this goes along way to faster spirit of togetherness or oneness thereby effective work output in any organization.

Inter professional conflicts in the health care delivery system has been described as very intense leading or poor perception of respect, personality, traits and communication gaps, disregards for one ones profession leading to superiority complex (showing that my job is better than yours) and this disregards for one profession has even become a national issue now in regards to salary and allowances issue among health care workers.

World Health Organization (2005), described a Nurse as a person having received authorized education and training, has acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes in promotion of health, prevention of illness and the care of the sick. Thus making her an integral member of the team capable of solving within the unit of her/his competence the health problem which arise in the community.

In Minna General Hospital like any other Hospital, is not different it comes to health workers relationship. The researcher noticed that patients related to a particular have experience unpleasant treatment like not given needed attention or being neglected because the person that was suppose to treat that patient has  problem with the patient’s relation.

Generally, people that go to the hospital do not receive adequate attention and proper care as expected and most patient believe that services are sometimes given to whom you know in the hospital. It is expected that every hospital should provide prompt and standard care for patient satisfaction without delaying patient’s stay in the hospital.

Statement of the Problem

Nigeria records significant number of patient’s deaths even before they are attended to at various hospitals. Minna General Hospital is not exempted in this. Record and reports have shown that many patients who go to the hospital stay longer then necessary and other do not receive satisfactory attention. The patient that enters the hospital receives prompt attention in the emergency room, routine doctor’s appointment, laboratory test or any appoint promptly if the patience has a relation that relates well with those concern.

When health workers work as a team without conflict, everyone in the organization will recognize and respect everyone in his or her office and all of them will provide adequate health care to every patient respectively not based in the notion that they are in one way related to a staff or not.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to assess working relationship that exist among health workers in some government hospitals in Minna Metropolis in Niger State. Specifically, this study is carried to achieve the following objectives.

1.      To determine the types of working relationship among health care workers in Minna general hospital.

2.      To determine the causes of conflicts among health care workers in government hospitals in Minna Metropolis.

3.      To identify factors that can influence cordial relationship among health workers in Minna Metropolis.

Significance of the Study

The research is significant because it will be of great benefit to hospital management, Nursing tutors programme. The findings from this research work will help improve the quality of patients care. It will make the hospital management to provide ways that could promote social interactions among health care workers such as inter professional unionism. It will make the hospital management to employ more staff to the hospital in order to ease workload on staff.

The findings of the study will contribute meaningfully to knowledge of teaching and learning in Nursing Tutors Programme.  The findings will help the government in devising policies that will increase the rate of teaching and learning of Nursing Tutors Programmes.

The findings will also assist nurse tutors to design the appropriate methodology that fit into the curriculum of the programme. It may serve as vital information for further researchers.

Research Questions

The following questions were formulated to guide the study.

1.      What are the types of working relationship that exist among health care workers in Minna General Hospital?

2.      What are the causes of conflicts among health care workers in some government hospitals in Minna Metropolis?

3.      What are the factors that can influence cordial relationship among health workers in some government hospital in Minna Metropolis?

Scope of the Study

This study is limited to the assessment of working relationship that exists among health care workers in some government hospitals in Minna Metropolis in Niger State from 2015 to 2017. It focused on  type of working  relationship,  causes of conflict, what can influence cordial relationship and attitude of health care workers towards one another in government hospitals.

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