Efficiency of Medical Laboratories in Nigeria

Efficiency of Medical Laboratories in Nigeria
Recent examinations of laboratory equipment in Nigeria show clear inefficiencies that are causing Nigerians to seek medical treatment elsewhere (Petti et al., 2006). The general goal of this current research is thus to better understand the medical environment in Nigeria in order to pinpoint the clear factors that are failing to serve the medical needs of the people. A lot of it could be based inefficiencies in the operation of medical laboratories in the country. Exploring these inefficiencies will then lead to potential recommendations that could improve the situation in Nigeria and increase the quality of care for the nation’s citizens, while also boosting the industry’s revenues by keeping Nigerians from leaving the country to find better medical treatment. Any potential findings could help lead an example for other global populations experiencing public health management problems from a medical laboratories perspective.
Specific Objectives of the Study
Since such an investigation could serve as an example for global health policies, the objectives need to be clear and direct. First, a thorough examination of the existing literature needs to be conducted in order to pinpoint the inefficiencies in the laboratory equipment and systems strategy that are creating the problems. Problems with Nigeria’s medical laboratory facilities are resulting in astounding number of misdiagnoses (McLeod, 2011). Physicians’ accuracy in a proper diagnosis could be hindered from medical laboratory mishandling or other issues. Thus, another specific objective is to understand how equipment may be playing a factor, based on the actual thoughts of those who use it daily and see the problems first hand within facilities in Nigeria. This is then an examination of the staff at Nigerian medical facilities in order to see if medical laboratories are one of the core factors contributing to the problem as well. Unfortunately, Nigeria does not provide a fruitful environment for professional advancement in health care, which leads to high rates to turnover (Marinucci et al., 2013). This then increases the inability of new staff to work with existing technologies, which only exacerbates the issue at hand, which may be a factor that only exacerbates the original issue of poor equipment.
Methodology
Sample Size
This study will incorporate a number of professionals actually working in the field in Nigeria. The sample frame includes 130 professional medical laboratory scientists at the University College Hospital in Ibadan in Oyo State, Nigeria. Using the sample size determination formula with a confidence level of 95% and a confidence interval of 4, the appropriate sample size would then be a total of 107 participants. Thus, it is from this sample size that data tables will be calculated and later analyzed by the study’s chosen methodology.
Study Design
The data could then be compiled and analyzed through descriptive statistics. This would be exploring not only the median, but the mode, meaning the amount of frequency of certain responses. This current research will use of the Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) which is provided by the World Health Organization. According to WHO, “The SARA survey is designed to generate a set of core indicators on key inputs and outputs of the health system, which can be used to measure progress in health systems strengthening over time” (WHO, 2014). Here, data from a sample can be analyzed based on the mean ranks of the participants’ responses in order to help uncover potential problems in the health care system as it is running in medical laboratories. Again, the