Bridging The Information Gap

Communication is an important component of patient care. However, somehealthcare providers and medical institutions do not generally value the needto communicate well with patients. It has been shown that good patient-healthcare provider communication has better health outcomes, highcompliance to therapeutic regimes, higher patient and healthcare providersatisfaction and a decrease in malpractice risk.This study explored the nature of patient-healthcare provider communicationat two hospitals in Malawi. It has been established that patient-healthcareprovider communication is generally good. Healthcare providers are tryingtheir level best to communicate with patients but they are faced with anumber of challenges such as heavy workload, patient’s illiteracy, languagebarriers and inadequate communication which hamper their ability toeffectively communicate with the patients.Data were collected using three sets of self-administered questionnaires thatwere answered by healthcare providers, student nurses and patients. Analysiswas done using SPSS Version20and Chi-Square tests were carried out toestablish whether any relationship and significance existed between twocategorical variables.