Health Workforce Crisis: Recruitment and Retention of Skilled Health Workers in the Public Health Sector in Malaysia

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Razlyn Abdul Rahim ◽  
Lillian Mwanri
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Ifeanyichukwu Ojeka Ukonu ◽  
Gideon A. Emerole

<p>Recently, Nigerian health sector especially the hospitals has been enervated by grievances, antagonism, unpleasantness, dissension, and apprehension. Unfortunately, the industry involved in ensuring workers’ healthcare and that of the populace has experienced tempestuous times. Slyly, issues whose pedigrees could be traced to superiority, autonomy, compensation schemes and other conditions of service gradually meandered into the public health sector leading to health workers and non-health workers being at loggerhead with one another. As such, the serenity and harmony once witnessed in government hospitals have been jumbled by incoherent differences of various groups in the hospital. This paper therefore proposes to examine the causes of disputes at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital; what has been done, and what needs to be done by all and sundry and more especially, the role National Industrial Court (NIC) has played in sustaining harmony in Nigerian health sector. Also, it will examine the role National industrial Court has previously played and can still play futuristically to enhance and sustain the desired industrial harmony in University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, the entire health sector and other sectors of the economy.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-201
Author(s):  
Bernard Nkala ◽  
Charles Mudimu ◽  
Angelbert Mbengwa Mbengwa

Talent Management is an essential component in transforming health systems if carefully implemented for the public sector especially in low income countries. In Zimbabwe public health sector, talent retention and engagement are viewed as amongst the challenges affecting the realisation of effective performance and productivity from the existing Health workforce. Largely, modern health care systems lack robust strategies to identify and utilize employee talent essential to help attain organisational citizenship. The study reviewed the relevancy and effectiveness of talent management practices in the public health sector using a case study of Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, one of the major referral hospitals in Zimbabwe. The study aimed at closing the talent pipe-line gaps as part of the Health Systems Strengthening initiative towards bringing about talent retention and engagement amongst the health workforce in public sector settings. The study assessed the impact of the existing talent management initiatives focusing on variables; recruitment and attraction perspective, compensation and rewarding component, health workforce succession management and implemented performance management system. The study obtained cross sectional data collected through a designed tool following a purposive (non-probability) sampling technique from a sample of n=200 existing health management team to assess the perception of implemented talent management approaches. The study further used responses from n=450 randomly selected health professionals recruited in the last 3 years prior to the survey to analyse the association between the variables on talent management practices namely (recruitment and selection, compensation and rewarding, succession management and performance management system) and the age of health workforce to employee engagement. The data on recruited cadres was obtained from the existing Hospital Human Resources for Health Recruitment Database. The research revealed that talent management in public health sector currently suffers from theoretical problems since the existing Human Resources for Health literature concentrates on anecdotal information. The human resource practitioners need to come up with more involving workplace activities to demystify the theory that millennials are generally finding it difficult to engage. In addition, the public sector succession planning strategies would need to be in place for the millennials well in time to adequately replace the considerable number of those at retiring stages. The Logistic regression analysis revealed recruitment and attraction perspective, and succession management positively influence health workforce engagement while adherence to implementing performance management system negatively affected employee engagement. Compensation and rewarding practices in a public health set up proved an insignificant variable to health workforce engagement hence study concluded further analysis on the impact on wider target group. The study revealed as the age increases, the health workforce become more engaged and self-motivated to develop their personal talent, thus theory suggests such are ‘Baby Boomers’ age group that do not need much push and are prepared to perfect their work talent for the benefit of the health system. The role of performance management system must be equally elevated within health system initiatives in order to achieve ultimate health workforce engagement. The study recommended the public health sector to incorporate in its human resources policy, a strategy for managing and utilisation of talent from the different health workforce generations within the health system. In improving the performance of public health systems, talent management need to be put forward in the health systems strengthening agenda in order to build highly engaged health teams. Talent management practices become essential and if carefully implemented, are likely to help public health systems retain rare skills especially in highly specialised functions. Furthermore, the organisations need to synchronise its strategic plan with the talent management strategy. There must be continuous capacity building of human resources departments to firstly own policies that influence talent management so as to ensure ultimate health workforce engagement.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Mary W Theuri ◽  
Stephen Macharia ◽  
Alice Kamau ◽  
◽  
◽  
...  

Globally, the health sector is an area that any government must focus on since health is a right of every human being. Kenya particularly initiated the idea of devolution and the Big Four Agenda to ensure service delivery to citizens was achieved. Nevertheless, the situation in the public health sector has been encountering challenges due to dissatisfaction of personnel culminating in strikes. The objective of this study was to explore the effect of the working environment on service delivery in the health sector in Nyeri County, Kenya. The study was guided by the person–environment fit theory. The descriptive cross-sectional research design was used. The target population was derived from public hospitals in Nyeri County. Proportionate stratified random sampling was utilized, where 141 respondents were targeted, comprising doctors, clinical officers, and nurses. Data was collected using a closedended questionnaire. A pilot study was conducted at Mukurwe-ini Hospital to enhance the validity and reliability of the data-collection instrument. A Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.7 was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics from the 78.7% respondents. The findings established that the working environment had positive and significant effects on service delivery (β1 = 0.476, p-value = 0.000) at the 5% level of significance, hence rejecting the null hypothesis. The study further established that the public health sector in Kenya should address the drug shortage, medical staff working hours, and machine maintenance as they would adversely affect quality of service delivery. The study recommends that the public health sector should provide health workers a conducive working environment and all necessary tools and equipment to enable them to discharge their duties effectively with a view to enhance service delivery to patients. Future research should focus on the importance of on–the-job training for effective service delivery in the public health sector.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Mohammed Mustapha Namadi

Corruption is pervasive in Nigeria at all levels. Thus, despite recent gains in healthcare provision, the health sector faces numerous corruption related challenges. This study aims at examining areas of corruption in the health sector with specific focus on its types and nature. A sample size of 480 respondents aged 18 years and above was drawn from the eight Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kano State, using the multistage sampling technique. The results revealed evidence of corrupt practices including those related to unnecessary-absenteeism, diversion of patients from the public health facilities to the private sector, diverting money meant for the purchase of equipment, fuel and diesel, bribery, stealing of medications, fraud, misappropriation of medications and unjustifiable reimbursement claims. In order to resolve the problem of corrupt practices in the healthcare sector, the study recommended the need for enforcement of appropriate code of ethics guiding the conduct of the health professionals, adoption of anti-corruption strategies, and strengthening the government monitoring system to check corruption in public health sector in order to ensure equitable access to healthcare services among the under-privileged people in the society.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. e039242
Author(s):  
Pragashnie Govender

IntroductionEarly childhood is a critical time when the benefits of early interventions are intensified, and the adverse effects of risk can be reduced. For the optimal provision of early intervention, professionals in the field are required to have specialised knowledge and skills in implementing these programmes. In the context of South Africa, there is evidence to suggest that therapists are ill-prepared to handle the unique challenges posed in neonatal intensive care units and wards with at-risk infants in the first few weeks of life. This is attributed to several reasons; however, irrespective of the causative factors, the need to bridge this knowledge-to-practice gap remains essential.Methods and analysisThis study is a multimethod stakeholder-driven study using a scoping review followed by an appreciative inquiry and Delphi process that will aid in the development, implementation and evaluation of a knowledge translation intervention to bridge knowledge-gaps in occupational and physiotherapists working in the field. Therapists currently working in the public health sector will be recruited for participation in the various stages of the study. The analysis will occur via thematic analysis for qualitative data and percentages and frequencies for descriptive quantitative data. Issues around trustworthiness and rigour, and reliability and validity, will be ensured within each of the phases, by use of a content validity index and inter-rater reliability for the Delphi survey; thick descriptions, peer debriefing, member checking and an audit trail for the qualitative data.Ethics and disseminationThe study has received full ethical approval from the Health Research and Knowledge Management Directorate of the Department of Health and a Biomedical Research Ethics Committee. The results will be published in peer-reviewed academic journals and disseminated to the relevant stakeholders within this study.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Khurana ◽  
S Roy ◽  
M Gupta

Abstract Problem Human resources in the public health sector is of prime importance in a limited resource setting country, who at times work in a high-pressure, limited resource environment and where skilled staff continue to remain in short supply. The role of Human Resource for Health (HRH) team responsible for managing this health workforce is crucial. They play an important role in improving the human resource practices and creating an enabling organizational culture for optimal resource utilization. The paper explores the profile of the HRH teams of the states of India, their knowledge levels, and perceptions of their role. Methods The participants were HR Managers from 29 states of India who look after HRH in National Health Mission and State Health Departments. Cross-sectional survey tool was used for data collection. Quantitative data analysis included univariate and bivariate analysis. One Way ANOVA test of significance and post-hoc tests using Tukey's method was used to ascertain the groups with significant difference. Results Most of the HRH team members are postgraduates or have management background. Their experience varies from &lt;1year to &gt; 25 years. Mostly of them perceive their role to be limited to implementing bare essential HRM practices, mostly administrative. The educational qualification of the members did not have any significant bearing on their technical knowledge related to HRM practices; but their experience in public health sector showed a significant association. Lessons This study lends evidence to the principle that professionals who have been in the system for long, know about HRH and the associated policies better, and hence may be better equipped to handle HRH and establish good HR Management (HRM) systems. Better role clarity among the HRH teams, expansion of their current scope of work to include advanced practices of HRM and continuous capacity building mechanisms are needed to help strengthen the development and management of HRH. Key messages This study, a first of its kind in the country, lend evidence related to the principle for deciding the profile of team who should be entrusted with managing and development of HRH. The Study gives evidence to focus on the role clarity of HRH to zero down their knowledge and skills gaps and enhance their competencies through better capacity building.


Arbeit ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursula Stöger

AbstractDer Artikel schildert Teilergebnisse eines Forschungsprojektes über Gesundheitsdienstleistungen am Beispiel der seltenen Krankheit ALS. Dargestellt wird die Interaktionsarbeit der Gesundheitskoordination, die PatientInnen bei der Bewältigung der Krankheitsfolgen Hilfestellung bietet und deren Interessen gegenüber den AkteurInnen im Gesundheitssystem vertritt. Sie übernimmt damit eine Koordinierungsfunktion, die aufgrund der steigenden Abstimmungsprobleme zwischen den einzelnen Leistungsbereichen der Gesundheitsversorgung notwendig wird. Die Tätigkeit stellt höchste Ansprüche an die Interaktionsarbeit, die durch geeignete Arbeitsgestaltungsmaßnahmen gefördert werden kann.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-58
Author(s):  
Elice Temu ◽  
Gasto Frumence ◽  
Nathanael Sirili

Background: Globally, shortage of clinicians health workforce is among the major challenges facing the health systems of many countries including Tanzania. Migration of medical doctors from clinical practice to non-clinical practice partly contributes to this challenge. This study aimed to explore factors influencing Medical Doctors’ decision to migrate from clinical practice in the public sector to non-clinical practice in the private sector in Dar es Salaam Tanzania.Methods: An exploratory qualitative study was conducted using 12 in-depth interviews with medical doctors working in the private sector but formerly worked in the public health sector. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed.Results: Three main themes emerged; health system-level drivers that has three sub-themes, namely poor work environment, heavy workload due to shortage of clinicians and underfunded public health sector; individual-level drivers, which include four sub-themes: Age, area of specialization, marital status and empathy to patients; and external environment drivers consisting of two sub-themes: peer pressure and community culture.Conclusion: Improving the work environment through increased funding will partly address the main health system drivers underlying migration from the clinical practice. Furthermore, nurturing junior doctors to be enthusiastic and adapting to cultural shocks can partly help to address the individual and external drivers. Keywords: Shortage, Medical Doctors, Clinicians, Physicians, migration, health workforce, Tanzania Clinical Practice, Non-Clinical Practice.


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