Abstract:

The focus of this study is to examine the effect of labour strikes on patient’s quality of care in health facilities. However, the objective can be achieved by answering the research question which is “does labour strike affects quality of care in health institutions? The study is a cross-sectional descriptive study of 508 respondents from the outpatient, laboratory and pharmacy departments, Ante-Natal, Post-Natal and ART clinics of the 7 secondary health institutions spread across 3 senatorial districts in the state between January and February 2018 using multistage method. Data were collected using a semi structured closed- and open-ended questionnaire divided into different sections. Raw data were entered EpiData™ and exported for analysis using the SPSS software version 20. The data were cleaned and validated for use. Frequency tables were produced and associations between categorical variables were determined using chi squared test at a significance level of P<0.05.

The negative effects of strikes are highly felt generally among all patients with no statistical significant difference whether employed, unemployed or retired (P>0.05). However, the significant effect of health workers’ strike on quality of care is that strikes increases death rates. The result showed that regardless of patient’s education level, patients are fully aware that one of the effects of health worker strikes is increase in death rate with P value >0.05. Labour strike also increases misuse of drugs, expiry and wastages of drugs and laboratory reagents. In conclusion, the higher the level of education, the higher the awareness that labour strikes affect the duty of health workers and have effect on patient’s attendance, poor healthcare indicators and cause patients’ dissatisfaction.

Keywords: Health Workers Strikes, Quality of Care, Patient Satisfaction and Secondary Health Institutions.

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