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Dear HIFA colleagues,
I would like to share a personal experience from Eastern DRC related to patient safety and continuity of care.
My grandmother was diagnosed with diabetes at a health facility.
When she returned the next day, she saw another clinician who could not find the record from her previous visit. Her assessment was repeated, and the information about her diabetes was not carried forward.
This made me think about how poor documentation and communication between health workers can affect patient safety and trust in health services.
In some communities, I have also seen people turn to traditional practitioners when they do not receive proper follow-up or feel that their treatment is not helping.
I believe that better record-keeping, communication between health workers, and follow-up could help improve the safety and quality of NCD care.
Best wishes,
Patrick Songa
Disclosure: I used ChatGPT to help edit and structure this message.
HIFA profile: Patrick Songa is Project manager at Corridor4health, Congo - Kinshasa. patricksongaps AT gmail.com