Types of clients who patronize healthcare facilities in Ghana

Nursing in most parts of Africa can be compared to one hell of work. Nurses are faced with everyday difficulties that make it impossible to offer the best form of care to clients; from the shortage or lack of logistics, motivation, appreciation from clients and bosses, to the huge workload on nurses.

While the celebration of the nurse's week comes to an end,
I have decided to catalog the different types of clients I encounter at the hospital on a daily basis.

Clients come to hospitals for various reasons, according to the research I conducted in the facility I work. Some of them come to the hospital to seek medical care for their medical problems. Others also come to the hospital for excuse duties to cover up for the number of days they illegally absented themselves from work.

Some also come to the hospital just because they feel bored at home. And these are the troublemakers! They will come and begin creating confusion so they can be seen. We call them the attention seekers. They will accuse the health staff of discriminating in the delivery of healthcare because they haven't been attended to early. They will even invite others around to cast the nurse in a bad light. No matter how many explanations you give, they will refuse them all. They will raise their voices and tell you that they are also sick.

What I sometimes ask myself when faced with these circumstances is, can people who are really sick shout at the top of their voices? Do they have that amount of energy to shout at people who are working to help them find solutions to their health needs?

The other group of people who come to the hospital is the beggars. After attending to them with complaints that change every minute, they begin to beg you for money in the consulting room, with a preconceived notion that nurses are rich!

After sorting out all the groups of clients above then comes the seriously sick clients who need immediate and timely care to restore life and prevent complications. They come in an advanced stage of the disease. In Ghana, some people don't attend hospital immediately if they are sick. They first have to try other unorthodox means before considering the hospital as a last resort. There are many herbal medicine producers because of this attitude, some of whom just use anything to deceive people.

Can you add any group of clients you think also attend health facilities in Ghana?

Hospital clients