Patterns and Trends of Clinical Service Utilization in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital: A Three Year Retrospective Review, 2023–2025.

Abstract

Hospital service utilization data are essential for health system planning, policy development, and resource allocation, particularly in resource‑limited tertiary institutions. This study examined clinical service utilization at the Federal University Teaching Hospital, Wukari (FUTH Wukari), Nigeria, over a three‑year period from January 2023 to December 2025. A retrospective descriptive review was conducted using registers from wards, specialty and family medicine clinics, operating theaters, pharmacy, physiotherapy, laboratory, radio-diagnostics, NHIA/Staff clinics, and the Health Information Management unit. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in Microsoft Excel 2025.

The review recorded a total of 272,895 patient contacts and 1,047 major procedures. Outpatient services dominated, with Family Medicine and specialty clinics accounting for 133,978 contacts, representing nearly half of all encounters. NHIA/Staff clinics grew sharply to 12,863, while HIV clinics rose to 29,406. Laboratory Medicine processed 49,753 samples, and Pharmacy dispensed 32,186 contacts. Radio-diagnostics increased steadily to 678 clients in 2025, while physiotherapy services expanded from 19 patients in 2023 to 89 in 2025, totaling 144. Maternal and child health services showed exponential growth, with maternity admissions rising from 719 to 1,005, paediatric admissions from 504 to 776, and antenatal clinic visits from 1,307 to 1,535. General surgical admissions increased by 30.4 percent. Despite these expansions, intensive care unit (ICU) and high dependency unit (HDU) services remained unavailable throughout the review period.

The findings highlight outpatient, NHIA/Staff, HIV, diagnostic, and pharmaceutical services as the main drivers of hospital utilization. The exponential increases in maternity, pediatric, and antenatal services underscore the hospital’s expanding role in maternal and child health, while physiotherapy growth reflects rising demand for rehabilitative care. However, the absence of ICU and HDU facilities remains a critical gap, limiting the hospital’s ability to manage complex emergencies. Addressing these gaps requires investment in infrastructure, workforce expansion, and revitalization of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health programs.