INTEGRATING HEALTHCARE SERVICES BY INCORPORATING TRADITIONAL MEDICINE INTO MODERN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM: A CASE STUDY OF BAYARA HOSPITAL, BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA
Abstract
The study examined integrating healthcare services by incorporating traditional medicine into modern healthcare system: a case study of Bayara Hospital, Bauchi State, Nigeria. Despite the widespread use of traditional medicine in Nigeria, it is largely excluded from the formal healthcare system. Many patients use both traditional and modern healthcare services, often without proper coordination between the two. This lack of integration can lead to conflicting treatments, misdiagnoses, and adverse drug interactions. Against this, the study examined the current uses of traditional medicine among patients at Bayara Hospital, identified challenges hindering the integration of traditional medicine into the hospital’s healthcare system, assess the perceptions of healthcare providers and traditional healers on collaboration as well as proposed strategies for integrating traditional medicine into the modern healthcare system at Bayara Hospital. Signaling Theory was used for the study. This research work can best be described as a survey research design. The method of data collection was primary sources of data collection. The quantitative method of data collection was used for the study with a sample of size of one hundred and eighty five (185). The result found that traditional medicine is very common among patients attending Bayara Hospital, most of the households around Bayara Hospital used Traditional medicine to prevent and treat diseases Bayara communities rely on traditional medicine to maintain their health, traditional medicine have long been in existence among Bayara communities and that traditional medicine is the main source of medicine to among communities around Bayara Hospital. Thus, the study recommended that public enlightenment programme, in the form of health education about safe use of herbal medicines, may be a useful means of minimizing the potential adverse effects.
Keywords: Integrating, Healthcare Services, Traditional Medicine, Modern Healthcare System, Bayara, Hospital
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