ReviewNigerian medical journal : journal of the Nigeria Medical Association
Customer Service Delivery in Clinical Laboratories: Challenges, Innovations, and Policy Directions for Strengthening Quality Management Systems in Nigeria.
Review in Nigerian medical journal : journal of the Nigeria Medical Association. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Clinical laboratories are central to healthcare delivery in Nigeria, yet service quality is frequently undermined by infrastructural deficits and weak quality management systems (QMS). Beyond technical accuracy, customer experienceis critical to patient trust and treatment adherence. Persistent challenges such as unstable power supply, workforce shortages, and the absence of mandatory accreditation continue to erode public confidence. This review synthesizes these systemic challenges and evaluates the intersection of QMS and customer service to propose actionable reforms for the national laboratory network. Methodology: A narrative synthesis was conducted on literature published between January 2010 and October 2025. Searches in PubMed, Google Scholar, and African Journals Online identified 317 records. Following a PRISMA-based screening process, 68 articles were eligible, and 36 were purposively selected for thematic synthesis. Data were analyzed to classify findings into systemic challenges, innovations, and policy recommendations using a quality appraisal matrix. Results: Service delivery was found to be severely constrained by structural barriers, including over 90% reliance on unstable national power grids and a critical workforce shortage, with ratios as low as one laboratory scientist to 5,000 individuals. These deficits drive process failures such as poor adherence to Standard Operating Procedures and low accreditation uptake, resulting in prolonged turnaround times and weak patient communication. Conversely, innovations including Laboratory Information Management Systems, Point-of-Care Testing, and the WHO-AFRO SLIPTA program demonstrated measurable improvements in error reduction and patient satisfaction. Conclusion: Improving customer service in Nigerian clinical laboratories requires a paradigm shift that positions patient experience as a core component of quality assurance. Sustainable improvement depends on competency-based licensing, mandatory accreditation for tertiary facilities, and strategic infrastructure investment to integrate customer-centered practices within robust QMS frameworks.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42471880PMC13379831What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.