My Encounter with the Police

Recently, the police invited me for a chat. At the reception of my office, a police Sergeant waited to take me “away”, reminiscent of the way Hitler’s soldiers waited for Captain Von Trapp in the Sound of Music. I asked why he was waiting and he told me ‘they” asked him to make sure I attended the meeting. I know the next questions you will ask. Was I brutalized, harassed, heckled? Did they extort money from me and more importantly, did I not say my prayer diligently before leaving the house especially the part of the Lord’s Prayer “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all evil”. A typical reaction coming from a police invitation is fear and anxiety. Did all this happen? Nah! as my daughter will say. The situation was different.

The Commissioners of Police, Leadership of the Police Medical Corp at the Police Hospital Falomo Lagos invited me to share a talk on Health Communication with the medical Personnel – from the record office personnel to the nurses, doctors and Pharmacists. The police Hospital Falomo seats in Ikoyi, the old high- brow area of the Lagos Island, Nigeria.

For a long time, the Hospital catered only for the police and their families, but as part of a new policy to contribute significantly to Healthcare as well as become self- sustaining, the 118 police hospitals in Nigeria are beginning to witness a face lift in varied degrees. Not only that, they are now open to the public and NHIS enrollees across the country – or some of them. I am aware that the police hospital in Ibadan and the two in Lagos - Falomo and Ikeja are up and running. To remain competitive, they have been seeking new ways to ensure patient satisfaction and increase their patient base. In order to do this, they have put together modules that can help build communication capabilities within the team.

Indeed, effective communication with patients is extremely critical to move patients from being passive individuals that only come to the hospital when they are ill to empowered advocates that can help drive through WOM and perhaps new technologies their experiences and journey through treatment. 

The reality is that the patient landscape in Nigeria and indeed SSA is changing. No longer do you have patients who will swallow every pill without a grumble; we are beginning to have patients who will ask questions and who may have been educated on the social media about what they imagine is their ailment before getting to the hospital either checking by themselves or if illiterate, through their literate son, daughter or relations. We are beginning to see patients organize themselves into groups and asking to have dialogue with organizations regarding what will benefit them. That the police hospital/ medical corps have recognized and are actively working to build competences among their team to drive customer satisfaction and positive patient experience is a good thing.

So it was that I had a two day meeting with the medical corp. on Health Communication training with an average of about 40 police medical personnel at the hospital. It was a very interactive and engaging. We defined communication, and understood it to mean sharing meaningful messages and connecting with one another. We noted that there is need to have or build communication skills and to understand that communication is not only what comes from the mouth. Through signs and body language, people can communicate. Communication is relevant within a cultural context. A patient who has certain inhibition based on cultural nuances will react to certain things in certain ways. Unless, the nurse or Doctor or the personnel at the hospital recognizes this, they may never be able to help the patient.

Beyond body language, and culture, tone of language is also very important as well as emotional intelligence especially empathy. If communication requires some special skill set, then health communication requires more skills relevant across the touch points of the patient experience. It involves communication that can help save the lives of patients. It can resolve a near death situation. It also involves outreaches, preventive campaigns in communities to pre- empt or curtail diseases before they get out of hand.

In rural areas, recognizing the signs and symbols used to describe different ailments is very important, so as to enable the doctor or health worker carry out appropriate diagnosis. Words resonate with individuals based on their culture and experience. Being able to decipher this and break the walls to appropriately treat the patient is crucial. That is why we see one doctor having more patients than the others. He has been able to connect with the patients in a meaningful way.

We can learn a great lesson from the herbal sellers who advertise in the market places, at bus stops and at parks. Not exactly ethical, they are able to communicate through local imagery and sound. They connect with “the would be” patient or prey?? in a language that they understand.

One thing we all eventually realized during our discussion is that today’s health communication tools have gone beyond pictures, stickers, leave behinds, radio jingles. Speaking Books used by community leaders and local Health care providers can be extremely helpful. Through smart phones, each medical personnel can drive coordinated conversations about certain health areas leveraging the data or directory of the phones numbers of their patients or literate relations to reach out – if and when put together. At the workshop, they all realized that through their platforms they can push put information on different World Health Days, to their patients about diabetes, hypertension or treatment and management of people living with SCD for example. Each one of them has a role to play. From the records department, to the nurses, catering department, Doctors and Pharmacists – the patients have a lot to benefit if they are committed to effectively reaching out to them through communication.

With Meningitis on the rise in Nigeria, the need to communicate the realities of the disease to Nigerians by health care providers is imperative and urgent. The police medical team equipped with their reach and working with partners can do this effectively. This is one great way to make the police the friends of Nigerians.