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Global Health Economics and
Sustainability
Attitude of health-care workers toward hospital patients

Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) COVID-19 white embark on a serious enlightenment campaign to address
paper. In addition to the advancement and strengthening COVID-19 pandemic misconceptions, fears, and negative
of healthcare and social services as a vital defense against attitudes among both community members/patients and
the virus, inequality, and economic and social challenges, healthcare workers. Collaborating with media houses and
the organization states that social workers should be COVID-19 survivors can facilitate this effort. Further
championing social services and policy reforms that are studies are essential to assess the long-term impact of
transparent and proactive in supporting communities and the COVID-19 pandemic on health-care attitudes and
vulnerable populations (IFSW, 2020). behaviors in Nigeria. Furthermore, this advocates for
For decades, social workers in Philadelphia’s West effective public health education implementation among
Philly have been delivering care and services to vulnerable healthcare workers, patients, and the broader community.
populations with limited resources and equipment The government’s national orientation agencies, social
(Shemelia, 2020). The same is said of social workers in workers, and civil society should utilize diverse platforms,
Nigeria, or even worse. The social work profession in such as schools, religious bodies, and both new and
Nigeria, to say the least, is not recognized officially by traditional media, to educate the public on the dynamics
the Nigerian constitution; put another way, the bill to of pandemics or epidemics. This will enable community
recognize social work as a profession has not been passed members to be proactive rather than reactive in responding
or enacted into law by the Nigerian government. Hence, to pandemic situations. The paper also emphasizes the
social workers in Nigeria are operating in the shadows. The importance of training Nigeran healthcare workers in
social work profession in Nigeria lacks funds, resources, epidemiology and pandemic response strategies, alongside
and recognition. This also limits how far Nigerian social providing sophisticated, modern health facilities. These
workers may go in the fight against the COVID-19 measures are crucial for boosting health worker confidence
outbreak. and fostering positive attitudes toward patient care during
pandemics.
5. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
The study revealed evidence of neglect, suboptimal care,
and negative attitudes among health-care workers toward The researchers give special thanks to all the study
hospital patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in participants who bravely and patiently responded to the
Nigeria. These negative attitudes stemmed from issues such IDI sessions amidst the fear and chaos of the COVID-19
as inadequate PPE, hospital equipment shortages, lack of pandemic.
incentives, unpaid salaries and hazard allowances, and
insufficient training. Nigerian social workers functioned Funding
as mediators between health-care workers and hospital None.
patients during the pandemic. Despite facing challenges in
resources, funds, and recognition, medical social workers Conflict of interest
successfully advocated for the timely payment of health- The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
care workers’ salaries, the provision of incentives and
hazard allowances during the pandemic, and the availability Author contributions
of PPE. Their efforts aimed to enable healthcare workers
to provide care safely and effectively, driven by a strong Conceptualization: Christian C. Iyiani, Henry T. Ajibo
sense of patriotism to save lives. In addition, Nigerian Investigation: Henry T. Ajibo
social workers educated community members/patients Methodology: Christian C. Iyiani
on their rights to adequate healthcare and discouraged Formal analysis: Jacinta C. Ene
harmful practices such as self-medication and reliance Writing – original draft: All authors
on alternative medicine. They also advocated for patients’ Writing – review & editing: Jacinta C. Ene
right to receive adequate care. The study recommends that Ethics approval and consent to participate
the government prioritize budgetary allocations to the
health-care sector for funding and equipping hospitals. Ethical approval to conduct this study was obtained from
There should be more attention paid to training and the Ethical Review Board of the UNTH, Ituku Ozalla.
retraining health-care workers in virology management. Ethical Clearance Certificate No: NHREC/05/01/2008B-
Policy reforms and enforcement are needed to uphold the FWA00002458-1RB00002323. Furthermore, verbal
professional oath taken by healthcare workers, prioritizing informed consent was obtained from all the participants
saving lives over personal interests. Social workers need to before the interviews.

Volume 2 Issue 3 (2024) 10 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.2743