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RELEVANCE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN HEALTH INSTITUTIONS.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0       INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

           In today’s communication and information era where societies are moving towards evolution and civilization, public relations has appeared to be known as the main element and component of communication and an important factor in establishing subjective and objective partnerships due to the communicative and interactive nature of organizations and organizational duties and activities.

Interaction with relevant publics inside and outside the organization is necessary for keeping dynamics and survival of every organization as well as obtaining the objectives of that organization.

Among the major important developments of the twentieth century are the growth, recognition and acceptance of public and a useful tool in the hands of government and organizational managers in all modern societies. One of the important factors that have contributed for increased heath care in Nigeria is the population situation in the country. According to Anibueze (2008), the population of this country is increasing rapidly due largely to decreasing mortality and sustained high fertility. According to Abbas (2007), Public Relations is a mutual and informed attempt which organizations and the relevant social groups make to meet society’s acceptable objectives through communication and reaching a common understanding among communication parties.

Hospitals require public relations activities to distinguish them from competitors, provide bi-directional communication between the society and the hospital, and assist to create an acceptable strong hospital image and culture.

In today’s world, increase in importance attached by individuals in health issues, request for quality health care becoming widespread and acting more selectively among relevant health care organizations when they felt need for health services cause the increasing of competition among health care organizations. Service offering and service recipients’ satisfaction in addition to resources like physical infrastructure, tools and equipment and manpower in service offering are determinative in the completion among health care organizations.

Today, public relations become the antidote to virtually all human problems. This is simply not understanding dialogue, mental and inter-relationship, co-operation, support, goodwill, trust, rapport, healthy co-existence and favourable disposition between an organization and her internal and external publics.

Therefore, friendly and sincere relations when receiving the service, hospital’s comfort, access to doctors, nurses and other paramedics, receiving adequate service, ability to establish communication, good physical conditions (heating, hire-ring, landscape, parking lots, room services, medical supplies, number of lads, cleaning services, outer appearance of hospital etc) attaching importance to food service, waiting time for examination and relatively short bureaucratic procedures, feeling that the hospital management adopt “We” instead of “I”  as a corporate principle are critical to a hospitals positive or negative perception.

            Public relations activities are conducted out of the hospital as well in the hospitals. Communication like brochure, pamphlet, hand bills, and press releases prepared by the hospital as public relations activities, media coverage and campaigns on public health and training are critical on target group perception. And patient’s satisfaction from health care services and patient recommendation can also be formed as a result of the public relations activities conducted. Such recommendations are sometimes more influential than money spent on advertisement. And this depends on achieving patient’s satisfaction. First, satisfaction of existing patients has to be measured in order to achieve patient satisfaction.

However, a health institution like FETHA which is our focus in this study cannot be an exception. Therefore, for this health institution to continue rendering quantitative and qualitative health care services to her various publics, a deliberate, planned and sustained effort must be made to actualize this lofty objective.

It is on this backdrop that cutlip, center and Broom (1985, p.13) asserted that ‘this matter of public relations has become of uttermost importance that the presence or absence of its practice can really make the difference between a completely executed project and a pedestrian one’’ although there exist a public relations department in most health institutions like FETHA which is our focus of study; but the area of interest of the researcher is the extent to which its ideology and practice has been absorbed upon as evident in the level of efficiency in health care delivery.

Hence, it becomes the aspiration of the researcher to critically x-ray the level of knowledge and use of this important management function in our health institution, using Federal Teaching Hospital as a focus point.

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