Inter-professional harmony: An evaluation of the knowledge and perception of family physicians by other healthcare staff in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The Nigerian public health sector has been faced with the challenge of disharmony amongst members of the healthcare team, perhaps due to a lack of understanding of each health professional’s roles. Family physicians are expected to lead primary care teams through effective inter-professional collaboration with other team members. This study assessed the knowledge and perception of family physicians by other healthcare staff in the family medicine department of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of healthcare workers in the General Practice Clinic of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data on sociodemographics, knowledge, awareness and perception of family physicians from the respondents. IBM SPSS Statistics version 22.0 (Chicago, IL, USA) statistical software was used for data analysis. Results: A total of 109 allied health care staff participated in this study, with a response rate of 97.3%. The mean age of participants was 39.1±6.8 years, with majority being females (70.6%), Nurses (28.4%), educated to tertiary level (90.8%), and in the 30-44-year age group (78.0%). The overall knowledge and perception of family physicians and their scope of practice by other health care staff in the family medicine department was good, with over 70% knowing the scope and level of practice of family physicians. The respondents’ knowledge of family physicians had a significant association with their perception, with those who recorded good knowledge having good perception. Conclusion: Though the overall knowledge and perception of family physicians by other health care staff was good, there is need to educate healthcare workers on the specialty of family medicine and its practitioners, so as to enhance team work and harmony between family physicians and other healthcare staff, with the aim of improving the quality of patient care.