Examining the motivators for health service delivery in the Berekum District, Ghana

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2005-11-08
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Human resource for health is an important ingredient in the health care delivery system in Ghana in particular and the world as a whole. However, if these people are to provide quality care to the patients or clients so that we get a healthful working population, there is the need to motivate these vital human resources. Motivation is an important ingredient that moves workers and urges them to do more for themselves, mankind and the society as a whole. However, they will be able to do this if the necessary conditions to work have been put in place in the workplace. This will be dependent on the knowledge and skill that has been acquired by the health worker and his or her capability to handle large number of clients or patients. In the event of the absence or inadequacies of motivation they find ways and means of releasing the tension, they thereby vent their frustration on the innocent patient or client who comes to them for treatment. Where they find the situation unbearable they leave the profession and either go abroad or practice elsewhere. It is therefore incumbent on all and sundry to provide the necessary support to the health staff to enable them provide quality health care for a healthful population. A non-interventional, descriptive cross-sectional study was employed, where the factors that will motivate the staff were described and their behaviours towards clients looked at. Two sets of structured questionnaires were administered, one to the health staff at the various facilities in the Berekum District and the in-charges of these facilities. The Senior Medical Officer (SMO) of the District hospital and the District Director of Health Services were interviewed. The data was analyzed using “stata version 8”. It was found out from the in-charges that about 62% of the health staff overwork themselves. The workload at the district is really heavy and it has increased as a result of the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Accommodation was also found to be a demotivating factor for most workers since about 69% live in rented rooms However they find the workload at the district to be heavy since about 81% of the in charges receive complaints about workload and about 62% of the health staff attests to this fact. However, it is recommended that more health staff should he posted to the 1 net to ease the overload of work; accommodation should be provided for the health staff. Workshops should be organised regularly with varied participants and not for the same people to improve upon the knowledge and skill of the health staff.
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A thesis submitted to the School of Postgradute Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Master of Science degree in Health Services Planning and Management, 2005
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