Abstract
BackgroundThere is a compelling need for management training amongst hospital managers in Nigeria mostly because management was never a part of the curricula in medical schools and this has resulted in their deficiencies in effective policymaking, planning and bottom line management. There has been no study to the best of our knowledge on the need and likely factors that may influence the acquisition of such training by hospital managers and this in effect was the reason for this study.MethodsData for this study came from a cross-sectional survey distributed amongst management staff in twenty five (25) hospitals that were purposively selected. One hundred and twenty five (125) questionnaires were distributed, out of which one hundred and four (104) were answered and returned giving a response rate of 83.2%. Descriptive and Inferential statistics were used to summarize the results. Decisions were made at 5% level of significance. A binary logistic regression was performed on the data to predict the logit of being formally and informally trained in health management. These statistical techniques were done using the IBM SPSS version 20.ResultsThe result revealed a high level of formal and informal trainings amongst the respondent managers. In formal management training, only few had no training (27.9%) while in informal management training, all had obtained a form of training of which in-service training predominates (84.6%). Most of the administrators/managers also had the intention of attending healthcare management programme within the next five years (62.5%). Socio-demographically, age (p = .032) and academic qualification (p < .001) had significant influence on training. Number of hospital beds (p < .001) and number of staff (p < .001) including managers’ current designation (p < .001) also had significant influence on training.ConclusionOur work did establish the critical need for both formal and informal trainings in health management for health care managers. Emphasis on training should be directed at younger managers who are the least likely to acquire such trainings, the smaller and private hospitals who are less likely to encourage such trainings amongst their staff and the least educated amongst health managers.
Highlights
There is a compelling need for management training amongst hospital managers in Nigeria mostly because management was never a part of the curricula in medical schools and this has resulted in their deficiencies in effective policymaking, planning and bottom line management
A hospital chief executive and manager designated as chief medical director (CMD) in Nigeria is most of the time a physician and shoulders the responsibility of managing his/her institution in a way that assures not just good clinical practice, but excellence in strategy, financial prudence and good human resource management as well
Clinicians in Nigeria as health managers in view of the numerous challenges of the health sector, and poor health situations require training that prepares them for effective policymaking, planning, decision-making, organizing, coordinating and effectively utilising resources for service delivery, but that has not been the case in Nigeria concludes the author [1]
Summary
There is a compelling need for management training amongst hospital managers in Nigeria mostly because management was never a part of the curricula in medical schools and this has resulted in their deficiencies in effective policymaking, planning and bottom line management. The trend in Nigeria according to Adindu in management training and health managers [1] shows that many health managers lack adequate training in providing strategies that enables prudent and effective management of all the available resources and amenities for the proper functioning of the hospitals This according to the author [1] is because healthcare management was never a part of the curricula in medical schools. Countries with critical shortages and imbalance of health workers often lack the technical capacity to identify and assess crucial policy issues of the health workforce [2, 4] Health professionals function both as clinicians and managers in Nigeria, yet training in health services management missing in the curricula in medical schools is critical to bridging the knowledge gap for health professionals to perform management functions effectively [2, 4]
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