Haematology Consultations in a Tertiary Health Care Centre in Nigeria

The ease with which investigations are done in this technological age increases the possibility of finding abnormal haematological values, which inevitably leads to haematologic consultations. The Department of Haematology at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan provides a busy consultative service for in-patients and out-patients suspected of having a haematological disorder. This study reviewed the consultations received from different clinical departments to Consultant Haematologists at our tertiary hospital.

Analysis of consultation requests on in-patients received in the Haematology department, UCH between June 2015 and January 2016 was done. During this period, the department had six Haematologists and nine resident doctors. SPSS version 22 was employed for the statistical analysis.

A total of 285 consultation requests were received during the study period, with an average of 36 consults per month. The highest number was received in July 2015. The patients reviewed had a mean age of 36.9±19 years, and requests on female patients exceeded those on males, with a M:F ratio 1:1.5. Consultation for a presumptive diagnosis of sickle cell disease (SCD) were the commonest indication (17%). The highest consultation was from Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) (25%) while the least was from Radiation Oncology (0.4%).

There is an increasing role for the Haematologist in sub-Saharan Africa as evidenced by the high frequency of consultations observed in this review. The management team of each teaching hospital should bear in mind the need to have adequate number of Haematologists so as to ensure optimal haematological services.