Thankfully the pandemic did not hit us in Lagos and Nigeria too badly. The lockdown has been eased in phases since May 2020 and the State is almost back to full operations, albeit with warnings against being lackadaisical and insistence on safety measures such as social distancing, use of face masks, proper hand hygiene and other safety measures. In Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, the following are some of the gains of the pandemic:
- 1. Adoption of the focused antenatal care model
- 2. Institution of proper infection control measures with handwashing and sanitization culture in place
- 3. Better use of PPEs for procedures which will prevent other infections and reduce nosocomial infections
- 4. Restriction of traffic within the hospital and within the compound as the measures taken have been maintained
- 5. Improvement of our triaging protocols for clinics and in the emergency room.
- 6. The procurement of CTG machines and sonicaids have improved the quality of our services and we are monitoring to see the effect on some outcomes such as our perinatal mortality figures
- 7. The use of non-contact infrared thermometers is also here to stay.
- 8. Institution of an emergency response team for all kinds of critical events on a daily basis
- 9. Improved communication with staff and patients through our WhatsApp and other social media platforms
- 10. We upgraded our website and now use it more effectively
- 11. Use of technology for virtual meetings
- 12. Institution of doctor call lines
- 13. Creation of protocols and an Isolation unit for highly infectious diseases containment and management
- 14. Strengthening of the Infection Control Committee
- 15. Creation of channels for more surveys to be done among our staff and patients electronically.
