By Oluwafunke Ishola
Consultants at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) are taking steps to enhance teamwork and communication among specialists, aiming to improve patient care.
They said this on Tuesday during the Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), LASUTH.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference had the theme: “Multidisciplinary Approach to Patient Care: Context and Content”.
A multidisciplinary approach to patient care involves a team of healthcare professionals from different specialties—such as doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and other medical and para-medical staff members—collaborating to create a comprehensive, tailored treatment plan for a patient.
Dr Oluwajimi Sodipo, Consultant Family Physician, LASUTH, said consultants needed to strengthen collaboration as patients with the coexistence of two or more chronic, long-term health conditions are increasing across the country.
Sodipo emphasised that the patient-centred clinical care should move to being interdisciplinary care which engages active communication, shared decision-making, and holistic care, rather than independent, separate actions for patients.
“A patient could come to the family medicine department and subsequently need to go to see the kidney doctors (nephrologists), or doctors that deal with nerves (neurologists), or orthopaedic doctors that deal with bones.
“What has happened in the past is that a letter will be given to them to go there, and treatments administered to them may not be known to the primary doctor who sent them there.
“We’ve concluded that whether on an outpatient basis or for patients that are on admission, we’re going to have to communicate more so we know the reasons why certain things are being done.
“This will help us prevent some of the challenges that occur from non-communication, such as patients using multiple drugs that are the same, or being on treatment that the primary doctor does not know.
“Or some decisions may be made that the primary doctor who is managing or other doctors, even healthcare professionals who are working with the patients are not aware of.”
Sodipo explained that this would result to improved patient care due to better communication among doctors, and empowered patients who feel confident that their healthcare team is on the same page about their treatment.
“This approach shifts responsibility from a single provider to a group, focusing on the patient’s holistic needs, including physical, mental, and social well-being.”
He stressed that collaboration among healthcare professionals would improve the sector, reducing rivalry and promoting better patient outcomes.
“We are going to be working at the hospital with our various bodies and with the management to ensure that we institutionalise this and get the best outcomes.”
Sodipo expressed optimism that the approach could serve as a model for other hospitals and other healthcare systems in Nigeria and West Africa.
Similarly, Prof. Olufunmilade Omisanjo, Professor of Surgery with the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), said strengthening multidisciplinary team-based care for patients would minimise medical errors and improve patients’ outcomes.
Omisanjo, also a Consultant Urologist at LASUTH, said this approach would prioritise patient safety, enabling swift and effective treatment tailored to each patient’s needs, using the hospital’s resources to deliver the best possible care.
He acknowledged that implementing multidisciplinary team (MDT) care can be tough, citing challenges like scheduling conflicts, resource limitations, differing opinions, and traditional hierarchies in medicine.
In spite of these hurdles, he emphasised continuing to champion MDT care across specialities for better patient outcomes.
Also, Dr Joy Chionuma, Chairman, MDCAN LASUTH, said a multidisciplinary approach was a paradigm shift in healthcare delivery with the patient at the heart of the process.
Chionuma said its involvement of different expertise improves patients’ outcomes through prompt and accurate diagnosis and initiation of effective treatment strategies to reduce avoidable morbidity and mortality.
The Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, said the tertiary hospital is a multispecialist and multidisciplinary hospital with over 200 consultants in its eight clinical departments and each clinical department has subspecialties.
Fabamwo emphasised that the hospital management had championed a multidisciplinary approach to healthcare to ensure holistic and high-quality patient care.
Dr Toni Adeyemi, Senior Special Assistant on Health to the Lagos State Governor, pointed to Lagos State’s referral system from primary to tertiary care.
Adeyemi noted that this had ensured specialists at the teaching hospital worked together, providing multidisciplinary care to patients. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Vivian Ihechu
