Thread by @DrSeunO

1/ "sorry to keep you all waiting, I encountered some traffic on my way down here" justice announced as he walked into the hall.
"how is everyone, hope we all had a good day off this assignment"

2/ "I will say, let get down to it, I don't expect this to be a long day, as the hospital administrator is not directly involved with patient care. But due to a few point raised by people so far, we just need some clarification from him"

3/ "Mrs. Oluwakemi and Dr. Dalong, you both will lead this session" justice concluded

4/ "Madam, you will take the lead, while I'll support you" Dr. Dalong said
"good, so let call in the Mr. Emeka Igwe" justice said.

5/ A middle aged man was brought in by the bailiff, well dressed in a navy blue suit and tie. He was properly trimmed and walked with a air of confidence.

6/ "please take your seat sir" Mrs Oluwakemi said.
"kindly state your name for the record and we will get on with it. We won't want to waste your valuable time as we are sure that we must have pulled you off your busy schedule" she continued

7/ "Mr name is Emeka Igwe, I'm the director of administration for G.U teaching hospital" he said

8/ "thank you, let me introduce the panel to you, to my extreme right is Aljiha......" Mrs Oluwakemi introduced everyone to him, ending with herself

9/ "in running any company and I believe that a hospital is a company, a business entity set out to provide acceptable Healthcare services. There are specified job descriptions, this description set out the responsibilities of the person involved" Mrs Oluwakemi started

10/ "Like the nurses and doctors, they are to deal with the management of patient illness, cleaners are to clean etc"
"what is your job description as a director of administration for this hospital" she ended.

11/ "my job description in summary is to ensure the smooth running of the hospital in relation to providing equipment, availability of funds and with support of the CMD, improve our clinical practice"

12/ "talking about equipment, one of the factor highlighted so far is the absence of equipment to work with, I mean the mother in question had to wait over 1 hour to get an X-ray film" Dr. Dalong spoke for the first time

13/ "the doctor said there is no AED for resuscitation of patients, how do you respond to that" Dr. Dalong continued

14/ "let me add to that, the nurse said that the fluid given which was meant to finish over a long period of time ended within 2 hours and she feels that it was tampered with. There are infusion machine that allows for perfect timing and prevent tampering with infusion,

15/ "your nurse don't have that either" Aljiha add

16/ "it is true that, there are not enough equipment, but we are doing the best we can from the administrative point of view" Mr Emeka responded.

17/ "define your best" justice countered
"the issue is there are no funds, at least not enough to go round the way you are thinking, we are a government hospital. We operate on the funds provided to us by the government which is nothing compared to the need of the hospital"

18/ "Every unit in this hospital wants something, O&G want CTG machine in every labour room, Surgery is screaming for more surgical equipments. Paediatrics wants a Paediatric ICU"
"they all want something, and we can't provide it all, we don't have that fund" emeka retorted

19/ "what happens to the money you charge patients, at least we are still operating out of pocket payment in this country. What happens to it" Prof asked.

20/ "the money generated by the hospital doesn't belong to the hospital, it belongs to the government which is even now enforced with the TSA thingy. We only get to keep a certain percentage of it for running the hospital"

21/ "and what do you do with that percentage," Prof interrupted
"it is part of what we use to keep the hospital running, providing papers for doctors to document on, ensuring availability of request forms and other things" emeka explained.

22/ "so how do you decide which unit get what per time, I mean there as to be some health indices that helps direct how you spend this money" Mrs. Oluwakemi asked

23/ "we make the decision at board meeting with the various unit heads" he responded
"so you are saying that there is no statistical analysis for how the little fund you have is spent. You just spend it as you all deem fit" Mrs. Oluwakemi stated

24/ "if I run my company that way, I would have packed up a long time ago" she muttered under her breath.

25/ One problem I picked up in the course of our investigation so far, is a lack of team dynamics, there seems to be a lack of understanding amongst your nurse and doctors. What do you say to that? "justice asked

26/ "team dynamics is a personal thing sir. If they are not getting along, that has nothing to do with admin. It has everything to do with the person involved." emeka

27/ "that is absolute bullshit, sir you bring a group of people believed to be the best in their field together, people of different backgrounds and ideas, making them work together is an administrative issue. This just shows how limited you think your work is" Oluwakemi started

28/ "different research has shown that teamwork, especially communication can have a big impact on patient care and survival, it is your responsibility to see to that, to ensure that everyone is on the same page in patient care" she finished

29/ "do your staff members update their knowledge, like refresher courses" Dr. Dalong asked

30/ "Yes sir, by the virtue of been a teaching hospital, they have weekly ground rounds where they discuss recent advances in management of clinical ailments" emeka responded.

31/ "No, I'm not talking of clinical duties. I am talking of the administrative side, I'm talking about topics like equality and diversity in Healthcare, team building in Healthcare. Or do you feel they don't need courses like this, just clinical alone" Dr. Dalong asked

32/ "No sir, we don't push them for courses like this" Emeka responded.
"so even though we expect that as adult, they should get along, we still can't blame them for the lack of teamwork because you haven't enforced as part of their job criteria" Mrs. Oluwakemi said

33/ "do you realise that courses like this are available on the Internet, some are even free. And because you feel you are busy, dealing with money duties. People are dying from thing money is not needed to solve. This is just mental laziness" Mrs. Oluwakemi said

34/ "Mr Emeka, it seems like you don't see the full scope between the administrative and clinical side of Healthcare practice. Your job is not just to determine how money is spent. We can't blame you for shortage of funds, but not been able to manage your workforce is entirely on

35/ "you. As Mrs. Oluwakemi as pointed out, there are so many courses that your team needs to undertake which are not related to clinical duty but will make them a better person and eventually a better team delivering the best they can" justice started

36/ "this admin related factors are as important as the clinical duties of your staff. You have been selected by the government, no you have been selected by the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to see to that. But I must say, you have only focused on one aspect of your

37/ "Job, the funny thing is the part you focused on, you don't have too much control on it. But where you can create your niche, you abandoned, which has aggravated the poor Healthcare delivery this country is already facing"

38/ "you need to do better sir" justice concluded.

39/ "will that be all for Mr. Emeka Igwe, so that we can let him get back to his duties, in the hope that he is now aware of certain other issues" justice asked

40/ "That is all" they all chorused

41/ "Mr Emeka, you may take your leave" Mrs Oluwakemi said
"justice, I'm appalled, he doesn't even know the full extent of his job. He probably just sits in his office and just sign papers without going into the field and see how the workforce is fairing" Oluwakemi said

42/ "are we still getting the minister" Prof asked

43/ "Yes, I sent a letter across to him, and he has assured us of his presence on Sunday"
"so don't go to church people, it is about to go down as the musicians will say" justice responded.

44/ "see you all on Sunday"