Email this article 
Strengthening Healthcare Referral Systems In Nigeria Using The Medical Referral Information Management System
Abstract
The challenges faced by physicians and medical practitioners in referring patients to an appropriate healthcare provider for continuation of care, have been a major discourse in healthcare services. Most referral actions by physicians and practitioners are a mere handover of patients because of the inability of most receiving facilities to provide feedback to the initiating facility. These challenges have often led to delay in commencement of treatment and decreased collaboration between the different levels of healthcare – primary, secondary and tertiary. In this work, a system that enhances the referral process by aiding healthcare providers in establishing a connection with an appropriate healthcare provider for outpatient referrals was developed. The system enables patients establish first contact with a suitable primary healthcare provider. The methodology adopted is Object Oriented Hypermedia Design Methodology; it is one of the first methods to postulate the separation of concerns that defines its various models: requirements, conceptual, navigation, abstract interface and implementation. The system provides interfaces through which a healthcare provider can establish connection with another healthcare provider for purpose of referral. The results obtained using the system includes the recommendation of healthcare providers upon a specialty, care level and location based search request by a health provider. With the developed system, healthcare providers can easily reach nearby or far away healthcare facilities of varying specialties; this improves collaboration in healthcare services and strengthens the referral process.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Abodunrin, O., Akande, T., & Osagbemi, G. (2010): Awareness and perception toward referral
in healthcare: A study of adult residents in Ilorin, Nigeria. Annals of African Medicine
Vol. 9. No 3; 2010: 176-80. Pgs 176 – 180.
Ademiluyi, I. & Aluko-Arowolo, S. (2009): Infrastructural distribution of healthcare services in
Nigeria: An overview. J Geogr. 2009;2(5):104-10.
Afolaranmi. T,. Hassan, I., Mbak, J., Luka, D., Audu, T., Chirdan, O. (2018): Referral System:
An Assessment of Primary Health Care Centres in Plateau State, North Central Nigeria
ISSN:2455-3956, World Journal of Research and Review (WJRR)Volume-6, Issue-1,
January 2018. PP 82-86
Akande T. (2016): Referral system in Nigeria: Study of a tertiary health facility. Ann Afr Med
;3:130-3.
Anil Kumar Gupta et al. (2017): health system strengthening – focusing on referrals: an analysis from india. Jupiter publishers, JOJ nurse health care. vol 2, issue 4.
Celso sozinho ndima et al. (2019): strengthening referral systems in community health programs: a qualitative study in two rural districts of maputo province, Mozambique. BMC health services research. 2019.
Coovadia H, Jewkes R, Barron P, Sanders D, McIntyre D., (2009): The health and health system
of South Africa: historical roots of current public health challenges. Lancet. 2009 Sep
;374(9692):817-34.
Eskandari, M., Abbaszadeh, A., Borhani, F. (2013): Barriers of Referral System to Health Care
Provision in Rural Societies in Iran. J Caring Sci. 2013 Sep; 2(3): 229–236. Published
online 2013 Aug 28.
Herfon, (2015):. Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria. Child survival in Nigeria. Nigeria
health review 2015. Herfon; 2015. PP 45-75.
Hirsch, K. (2013): Sexually Transmitted diseases: Symptoms you should know About.
Published on September 8, 2013. Retrieved from
http://www.healthline.com/health/sexually-transmitted-diseases/symptoms. July 5,
Hysong, J., Esquivel, A., Singh, H. (2011): Towards successful coordination of electronic health
record referrals: a qualitative analysis. Implementation Science. Retrieved from
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov May 2017.
Jimenez, J (2015): Three ways to improve healthcare in Africa. Retrieved from
http://weforum.com. July 5, 2016.
Kasege, D. (2006): Healthcare in Africa: Challenges, opportunities and an emerging
model of improvement. Woodraw Wilson international center for scholars,
November 20, 2006.
Kim, J. (2017): Acute Referral Systems In Liberia: Transfer and Referral Capabilities in Low-
Income Country. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017.
Koce, F., Randhawa, G. & Ochieng, B. (2019): Understanding healthcare self-referral in
Nigeria from the service users’ perspective: a qualitative study of Niger state. Koce et al.
BMC Health Services Research (2019) 19:209. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4046- 9. PP 2
Maize, V., Rakel, D., Niemiec, C. (2009): Integrative Medicine and Patient-centered Care. The
National Academies Journal of Science. Retrived from www.nationalacademies.org,
November 8, 2018
Okoli, H. (2017): Self-referral patterns among federal civil servants in oyo state, South-
Western Nigeria. The Pan African Medical Journal. 2017;26: PP. 105
.
Oluseye OM, Kehinde DR, Akingbade O, Ogunlade OL et al. (2019): knowledge and utilization of referral system among health care workers in selected primary health care centers in oyo state Nigeria. Journal of community medicine and primary health care .vol 31, issue 1, pg 67-72.
Ouyang, T. (2010): Research on the Sharing of Medical Information Resource on the basis of
Bidirectional referral Medical Care in community health service and tertiary hospitals (in
Chinese). (Masters Dissertation, Hefei Industrial University).
Qureshi, N., Van der Molen, H., Schimidt, H. (2009): Criteria for a good referral system for
psychiatric patients: the view from Saudi Arabia. La Revue Vol. 15 2009 PP 1584.
Scrimgeour M. & Scrimgeour D. (2008): Health care access for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people living in urban areas, and related research issues.
CRCAH discussion paper no. 5. Darwin: Cooperative Research Centre for
Aboriginal Health. Retrieved July 5, 2016, from http://www.lowitja.org.au/
lowitja-publishing/C005.
Skrovseth, S., Arsand, E., Godtliebsen, F. (2015): Data-driven personalized feedback to patients
with type 1 diabetes: a randomized trial. Diabetes Technol Ther. PP. 482–489. Retrieved
from http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/25751133.
Technical working guidance. (2020): strengthen the health systems response to covid-19. WHO regional office for Europe UN city.
Zhang, J., Li, Q., Yao., Y., Luo, Z. & Fang, P. (2011): Investigation of information interaction
between Urban Hospital and community health service centre based on communication
with medical staff. Chinese Health Economics 30(7). PP. 81 -83
Zhou L., Nunes, M., Wuhan, R., Wuhan, F. (2015). Knowledge Sharing in Chinese Healthcare
Referral Services: Identifying the Barriers (iConference Paper).
Zuchowski, J., Rose, D., Hamilton. A., & Stockdale, S. (2015): Challenges in referral
Communication between VHA primary care and specialty care. Journal of General Internal Medicine 30, PP. 305–311
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.52155/ijpsat.v27.2.3312
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2021 Kingsley Chukwuemeka Ubani, Idoko Nnamdi A., Nweke Benedine Chinelo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.