Strategic leadership approach on effective palliative care of multiple myeloma (MM) in a developing country: A narrative review
Ogbonna Collins Nwabuko*1,2,3, Uche Aguocha4 and Okechukwu Iheji5
1Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria
2Department of Haematology, College of Health Science, Abia State University, Aba Campus, Abia State,Nigeria
3Department of Public Health Sciences, Walden University, Baltimore, USA.
4Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Federal Medical Center, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria
5Department of Internal Medicine, Federal Medical Center, Umuahia, Nigeria
*Corresponding Author Email ogbollins2002@yahoo.com
Tel +234 80 3704 6537
Ogbonna Collins Nwabuko |
Uche Aguocha |
Okechukwu Iheji |
Broadly speaking, the level of palliative care of life-threatening illnesses is grossly inadequate in developing countries including Nigeria. This could be responsible for their poor ascertainment, late diagnoses and low survival outcomes in the regions. This study was aimed at highlighting the strategic leadership approaches required to achieve effective palliative care of MM in Nigeria. It was an evidence-based integrative review of 31 references related to palliative care, MM, leadership concepts and frameworks for effective management of the disease. Three keywords (Palliative care, MM and leadership model) were used as search strategy to identify the problems, interventions, and outcome evaluation of the research question. The AJOL, Pub Med, Google scholar, CINAHL and CDSR were the database reviewed. A multi-sectored approach involving integrated health protection tools (i.e., screening, surveillance), health promotion (awareness, policy-making) in addition to strategic leadership model are required to establish effective palliative care for MM in a developing country such as Nigeria. The four pillars of effective care in this case are education (health information), health policy, drug availability, and implementation strategies. Concluding, leadership failure is responsible for poor survival outcomes of MM patients in Nigeria. To mitigate this challenge, there is a need to restructure the leadership framework in health institutions to embrace a palliative form of care. This requires education, policy-making, collaboration, and appropriate therapeutic interventions. The government, community, healthcare provider, donor agency and patient are critical stakeholders for successful implementation and attainment of effective level of palliative care in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
Keywords:
MM, palliative care, health policy, medical effectiveness, Nigeria
Nwabuko OC, Aguocha U, Iheji O (2021). Strategic leadership approach on effective palliative care of multiple myeloma (MM) in a developing country: A narrative review. Int. Res. J. Pub. Environ. Health 8(2):109-116.
Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License.