Dr Temitope.I. Bakare BDS, MPH, FMCFD (pictured here), is a Nigerian. She is a Quality Improvement Mentor (presently overseeing QI projects in two General Hospitals in Lagos State). She is also a Consultant Family Dentist with a Masters in Public Health. She often felt frustrated at the majority of past public health conferences which focused on “Governance” because its implementation was way beyond her reach.
In June 2019 she encountered the COHSASA CEO, Jacqui Stewart, who gave a presentation at ISQua’s regional conference in Lagos on Patients’ Experience of Care. “Jacqui so inspired me with solutions she tendered which were low hanging fruits for the average frontline worker. I decided to take advantage of the wonderful concessions offered to delegates from LMICs and attended the ISQua conference in Cape Town”.
In January this year, President Muhammadu Buhari launched the second National Strategic Health Development Plan from 2018-2022 to attain the Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria. This included quality improvement strategies in six cluster areas of the country. Although, Lagos state was not included in the 1st phase, quality improvement trainings and projects had commenced across the board at the 26 General Hospitals since 2016.
Temitope says the ISQua conference had empowered her with feasible action plans she could easily execute back home. “The conference was such a well-organised and professionally rewarding experience for me. ISQua must be commended for offering special rates to African delegates”.
The content of the conference was well-balanced and gave her some practical guidance on how to fix immediate problems in her clinical setting. To fix some of these would not cost anything! “The traditional African opening ceremony for her was a ‘wow’ experience with delegates in different traditional attires. This created a feeling of unity amongst the over 1000 delegates from 84 countries. “I learnt so much from both “The African Community of Practice and The Learning Journey Sessions” (which spanned three days) on Data, Co-production and Patient Safety”.
Take home points from these three Learning Journeys included: i) The need to resonate on the stories behind the data, ii) The need to synthesize “patients’ lived reality” with “health workers reality of care” and iii) being empowered to take up the safety challenge on medication without harm (especially in the areas of Poly pharmacy & Multi morbidity in her two facilities). She also learnt about the amazing potential of digital platforms to enhance the efficiency of patient care especially the role of smart mobile phones in educating patients (PharmAcess & MDoc Sessions). The 4th pillar, used in strengthening the South African Health System, discussed in the plenary session by The Minister of Health, Dr, Zweli Mkhize, also struck a chord in her.
The need for neighbouring private companies around health facilities to step up with their Corporate Social Responsibility in strengthening the health system was noted. At the drive for patient safety, coordinated by WHO, the CEO of ISQua, Peter Lachman, advocated that to “sustain” patient safety, we, the health professionals needed to “engage” and also “nurture” networks with politicians, policy makers and clinicians in our local and international vicinities. He also emphasized that patients should be treated for health and not for disease. Knowing the context of a patient’s life would provide invaluable information for successful clinical outcomes. “I’m so impressed by ISQua and what it has to offer” Temitope says. “I have already started mobilising my colleagues to save for Florence 2020.”
To read more about Dr Temitope. I. Bakare’s experience on each of the conference days at ISQua2019 go to these links:
DAY 1: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/isquas-36th-international-conference-innovate-implement-bakare
DAY 2: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/conference-day-two-temitope-bakare
DAY 3: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/isqua-conference-day-3-african-perspective-temitope-bakare
DAY 4: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/day-4-isqua-conference-african-perspective-temitope-bakare