BREAKING THE SILENCE, 2014 Breaking The Silence | Page 47

CLIENTS' PERCEPTION
OF A DOCTOR-CLIENT
RELATIONSHIP IN A
PUBLIC HOSPITAL
BAJIMILEHIN ENIOLA, 500L MBBS
2nd Runner Up, Oral Presentation,
AMSUL Scientific Conference 2014
INTRODUCTION
The first consultation with a client is the beginning of a
doctor-client relationship. It is thus of major importance
to conduct this in a correct and proper way. [1] Effective
doctor-client communication is a central clinical
function in building a therapeutic doctor-client
relationship, which is the heart and art of medicine and
is important in the delivery of high-quality health care.
[2] Much client dissatisfaction and many complaints are
due to breakdown in the doctor-client relationship. [2]
Despite disputes in literature on the tension between
evidence-based medicine and client-centered medicine,
clients' views on what constitutes high quality of
doctor-client communication are seldom an explicit
topic for research. [3] Clinicians, educators, researchers,
and policy advocates generally agree that a more active
and autonomous role for clients in the doctor-client
relationship is necessary to address health care needs.
[4]
To identify clients' priorities in a doctor-client
relationship of clients attending out-patient clinic at
Randle General Hospital.
 To assess clients' satisfaction of their doctor-client
relationship in clients attending out-patient clinic at
Randle General Hospital.
 To identify factors affecting a doctor-client
relationship in clients attending out-patient clinic at
Randle General Hospital.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study location used for this research was Randle
General Hospital, Surulere, Lagos.
TYPE OF STUDY
This was a descriptive cross-sectional study.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
 To assess clients' perception of a doctor-client
relationship. STUDY POPULATION
Study population was clients attending out-patient
clinics at Randle General Hospital and would include:
General Out-patient clinic, Ante-natal clinic, Paediatrics
clinic and Dental clinic.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
 To assess clients' attitude toward doctor-client
relationship in clients attending out-patient clinic at
Randle General Hospital. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
Multi-stage sampling technique was used.
 Step 1: All clinics assessing out-patients were
AMSUL Digest 2014