Effective Communication as a Panacea for Gaining Acceptance of Hospital Services by Clients

Health communication is essential in providing avenue for effective dissemination of health information in order to improve healthcare delivery.Lack of effective communication between healthcare providers and their clients especially in secondary health facilities has impeded the effective and efficient delivery of quality healthcare.The objective of this study is to demonstrate effective communication as a solution for clients to accept quality healthcare services.A descriptive cross-sectional study of three secondary health facilities in Northern Cross River, Nigeria.Population of 2050 in 3 facilities with sample size (n) of 335 allocated 147, 57, 98 and 33 among the 3 facilities and staff categories respectively.Systematic sampling technique was used and semi-structured self-administered questionnaire for data collection.Data analysis was done using statistical package for social science.Non-parametric statistics was used in the analysis as data was categorical and not normally distributed.Out of 335 respondents, 278 completed the questionnaire giving a response rate of 83%.Modal Age group is 25-34 (29.5%) and Modal level of education is tertiary (38.5%).Majority of clients (53.6%) concurred to good communication skills (listening skills and allowing feedback from patient) from healthcare providers improved acceptance to healthcare delivery (P=0.019).Majority (45.3%) who confirmed friendly approach of health workers maintained them as their health providers.Effective communication is key to acceptance of services rendered to clients by healthcare personnel and also, for clients to have a positive perception of services rendered.