Most doctor profiles on Nigerian practice websites read like this: "Dr Adewale is a dedicated and compassionate physician with a passion for delivering excellent patient care."

That sentence could describe anyone. It contains no verifiable fact. A referring clinician reading it learns nothing that would help them decide where to send a patient, and a patient reading it learns nothing they could not have assumed.

What a profile is actually for

Two different people read these pages for two different reasons. A patient wants to know whether this person is qualified and whether they will be comfortable with them. A referring physician wants to know scope of practice, sub-specialty interest, and whether the patient will come back to them with a useful letter.

Both are answered by facts, not adjectives.

The structure that works

  • Full name and the qualification letters as they appear on the register. MBBS, FWACS, FMCP and so on, spelled out at least once for patients who do not know them.
  • Registration. That the clinician is registered with the relevant Nigerian professional body, and licensed to practise. Patients increasingly check.
  • Where they trained. Medical school, house job, residency, and any fellowship, with institutions named.
  • Current scope. What they actually see week to week. "General paediatrics with a particular interest in childhood asthma and allergy" tells a referrer exactly when to think of this person.
  • What they do not do. Rare, and valuable. A clinician who states their limits is trusted more, not less.
  • Clinic days. A referrer needs to know when this person is actually available.
  • Languages spoken. In Nigeria this is a practical matter, not a diversity statement. A patient more comfortable in Yoruba or Hausa than English will choose accordingly.

The photograph

One clear, current, well-lit photograph of the actual person. Not a group shot cropped down, not a photograph from a decade ago, not a stock image. If the practice has a consistent style across all clinicians, better still, but consistency matters less than currency and clarity.

Where the marketing goes

There is room for a short paragraph in the clinician's own voice about how they approach care, and it can be genuinely useful. The test is whether it says something a different doctor might disagree with. "I would rather spend longer at the first visit and order fewer tests" is a real position. "Committed to excellence" is not.

Keep it current

A profile listing a clinician who left two years ago is worse than no profile at all, because a patient who books to see them and finds they are gone has learned that your website cannot be trusted. Make reviewing these part of whatever you already do quarterly.

This is one of the few pages where the effort is entirely in the writing rather than the design, and where a practice can do it themselves in an afternoon.