HomeNutritionNon-specialized care of skin disorders: a cross-sectional survey of new patients attending dermatology clinic in a tertiary hospital in Jos, Northcentral Nigeria

Non-specialized care of skin disorders: a cross-sectional survey of new patients attending dermatology clinic in a tertiary hospital in Jos, Northcentral Nigeria

March 6, 2024

Afr Health Sci. 2023 Sep;23(3):635-644. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v23i3.74.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Given the paucity of skin health specialists in Nigeria and the low level of awareness amongst its populace, patients seek for care for skin related disorders from different sources and are given a variety of remedies before accessing specialist care.

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed at describing outlets visited and medication received by patients with skin disorders prior to attending the dermatology outpatient clinic in JUTH.

METHODS: This was a cross sectional study conducted over one year. Information on socio-demography, sources and medication received prior to presentation was obtained and analysed using SPSS 23.

RESULTS: The male: female ratio among 166 consenting new patients was 1:1.4. Prior to presentation patients sought care most frequently from Health facilities (68.1%), Patent medicine vendors-PMV (30.7%) and Traditional healers (21.7%). Overall, different steroid preparations were the most commonly used medications (56.6%) across all age groups with fixed combination preparations most frequently used (32.5%). Unconventional substances reportedly used by patients for skin disorders were urine, toothpaste, tomatoes, salt, water in which a life catfish had been kept and fats from a dead dog. Only 21.1% of the patients did not use any medication prior to presentation.

CONCLUSION: There is need to increase capacity in the care of common skin diseases at all levels of the health care system to decrease patronage of unconventional providers. Raising awareness of the general public on the potential dangers of inappropriate treatment of skin diseases and strengthen referral system is imperative to reduce the burden of skin diseases in the country.

PMID:38357152 | PMC:PMC10862634 | DOI:10.4314/ahs.v23i3.74

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About The Author

Patrick Blanchard MD

Meet Dr. Blanchard Dr. Blanchard’s medical practice is an embodiment of Integrative health which brings conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way. Conveniently located in sunny Florida and over the internet with ValiseMD’s secure HIPPA compliant telXmed servers. Since 1994, patients with a wide range of challenging medical problems have achieved optimum health using the best of natural medicine, judiciously combined with high-tech innovations. Breakthroughs are often achieved even after patients have consulted mainstream specialists and holistic practitioners. Dr. Blanchard is founder and CEO of ValiseMD, Inc. He is board certified in Family Medicine since 1994 and awarded Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians in 2001. He received the ‘Teacher of the Year’ award from the University of Kansas School of Medicine at completion of his residency in Family Medicine. He completed a fellowship at Wake Forest University in the field of vascular neurosonology. He holds a medical patent in the field of Gastroenterology. He holds an unrestricted license to practice medicine and surgery in Florida. He started his medical career as a Emergency Medical Technician, then as a Paramedic and later a Medical Doctor.