Elements constituting a grid of key competences of health professionals in the public hospitals of Yaoundé in Cameroon: The weight of socio-cultural barriers

Abstract

Researchers on skills management insist on the need to have a context-based approach. We highlight the components of a grid of key skills of health professionals in public hospitals of different categories in the city of Yaoundé in Cameroon. In order to have a global vision of the design, implementation, evaluation and practices around the key competencies of health professionals, 43 semi-directive interviews were validated with actors with different functions and positions. The data were the subject of an inductive qualitative study and a thematic content analysis. The competence of health professionals and the resulting practices are based on their ability to overcome socio-cultural barriers (values and beliefs of users, traditional practices, national regulation, tribalism, corporatism, high level of corruption and favoritism leading to subjectivity in their evaluation) and structural barriers (material, infrastructural, financial and human resources deficiencies) in order to bring them as close as possible to universal health accreditation standards such as those of the World Health Organization. This leads to a medical practice of culturally acceptable quality. Skill assessment is one of the vital issues for public hospitals because it plays a fundamental role in strategies of distinction, rankings, selection processes and orientation in the professional life of health professionals. It goes through the development of a skills grid specific to these professionals and must be based on objective practices.