Healthcare professionals' perception of quality of care of patients with cardiac disease in Nigeria: Implication for clinical guideline, inter-professional education and team work

BACKGROUND: Heart disease is one of the leading chronic conditions posing a major and growing threat to the public. Studies on quality of care given to patients with heart diseases in Nigeria are not available. The purpose of this study was to explore healthcare professionals' perception of quality of care of patients with heart disease at a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. METHODS: A mixed method design was utilized in this study. Twenty eight healthcare professionals consisting of cardiologists, nurses, physiotherapists and dieticians were recruited into the study through purposive sampling technique. A questionnaire developed and validated from existing questionnaire was used to survey the health care professionals' perception of care and qualitative design was further used to explore their perceptions of care. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of percentages and graphs. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Quality of care was assessed through structure, process and outcome of care indices. RESULTS: The mean age of the healthcare professionals was 38.46±8.988 years. 19 (66.7%) reported that there were treatment guidelines for cardiac disease management but there was no system for internal quality assurance. 18 (95%) out of these 19 healthcare professionals reported that the treatment guidelines were either never applied or not applied regularly during treatment. Other areas that were perceived as poor were poor teamwork, poor staff strength, inadequate equipment, and inadequate consultation with staff during procurement of medical supplies. CONCLUSION: Quality of care for cardiac patients in a Nigerian tertiary hospital was perceived as sub-optimal. There is a need for the improvement of the structure and process of quality of care to enhance quality of care for cardiac patients in Nigeria.