Public Sector Healthcare Providers Research Articles

Factors associated with burnout among healthcare providers in a rural context, South Africa.

Healthcare providers (HCPs) are at risk of burnout in sub-Saharan Africa. However, there is little research in rural and primary care settings. To evaluate burnout and its associated factors among public sector HCPs in South Africa. Primary health care clinics, community health centres and district hospitals in Nkomazi Local Municipality, Mpumalanga province. Quantitative study design using a cross-sectional survey. Healthcare providers (n= 1139) working in Nkomazi Local Municipality were invited to participate. Burnout was assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory. A demographic and occupational questionnaire, the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire and the Health and Safety Executive Indicator Tool were used. A total of 302 HCPs, between 23 and 61 years, mostly female (n= 252; 83.44%) and nurses (n= 235; 77.81%) participated. High burnout was observed for Emotional Exhaustion (median score 26 [IQR {interquartile range}: 34-16]) and Personal Accomplishment (median score 29 [IQR: 34-25]). Most participants (n= 215; 71.19%) would seek help if they had an emotional problem. Bivariate analysis revealed significant associations between workplace demands, control, management support, peer support, relationships, role and change with all subscales of burnout. Multivariate regression analysis found that Personal Accomplishment improved by 0.49 (95% CI: 0.10-0.89) for every point in improved work demands, by 0.84 (95% CI: 0.01-1.67) for every point towards improved management support and by 1.19 (95% CI: 0.48-1.90) for every point towards having an improved role. During 2022, HCPs working in a rural area in South Africa displayed high levels of burnout for Emotional Exhaustion and Personal Accomplishment but not for Depersonalisation.Contributions:Improvements in work demands, managerial support and role clarity may reduce burnout among HCP in a rural, primary care setting.

“We usually see a lot of delay in terms of coming for or seeking care”: an expert consultation on COVID testing and care pathways in seven low- and middle-income countries

BackgroundRapid diagnostic testing may support improved treatment of COVID patients. Understanding COVID testing and care pathways is important for assessing the impact and cost-effectiveness of testing in the real world, yet there is limited information on these pathways in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). We therefore undertook an expert consultation to better understand testing policies and practices, clinical screening, the profile of patients seeking testing or care, linkage to care after testing, treatment, lessons learnt and expected changes in 2023.MethodsWe organized a qualitative consultation with ten experts from seven LMICs (India, Indonesia, Malawi, Nigeria, Peru, South Africa, and Zimbabwe) identified through purposive sampling. We conducted structured interviews during six regional consultations, and undertook a thematic analysis of responses.ResultsParticipants reported that, after initial efforts to scale-up testing, the policy priority given to COVID testing has declined. Comorbidities putting patients at heightened risk (e.g., diabetes) mainly relied on self-identification. The decision to test following clinical screening was highly context-/location-specific, often dictated by local epidemiology and test availability. When rapid diagnostic tests were available, public sector healthcare providers tended to rely on them for diagnosis (alongside PCR for Asian/Latin American participants), while private sector providers predominantly used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. Positive test results were generally taken at ‘face value’ by clinicians, although negative tests with a high index of suspicion may be confirmed with PCR. However, even with a positive result, patients were not always linked to care in a timely manner because of reluctance to receiving care or delays in returning to care centres upon clinical deterioration. Countries often lacked multiple components of the range of therapeutics advised in WHO guidelines: notably so for oral antivirals designed for high-risk mild patients. Severely ill patients mostly received corticosteroids and, in higher-resourced settings, tocilizumab.ConclusionsTesting does not always prompt enhanced care, due to reluctance on the part of patients and limited therapeutic availability within clinical settings. Any analysis of the impact or cost-effectiveness of testing policies post pandemic needs to either consider investment in optimal treatment pathways or constrain estimates of benefits based on actual practice.

Definitions, perspectives, and reasons for conscientious objection among healthcare workers, facility managers, and staff in South Africa: a qualitative study

Conscientious objection (CO) on the part of healthcare providers is a growing threat to safe abortion access. In South Africa, evidence suggests that this legal clause may be manipulated as a justification for public-sector healthcare providers to exempt themselves from their duties to provide essential reproductive health services as required by national laws and protocols. This qualitative study improves our understanding of the definitions, perspectives, and use of CO among providers, staff, and facility managers in South Africa, and CO’s effect on public-sector abortion availability. Using 18 focus group discussions and 23 in-depth interviews, we examined CO attitudes and behaviours of staff from health facilities that provide abortion care in Gauteng, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape Provinces. We find that CO is invoked for a variety of reasons, some unrelated to the legal basis for objection. There have been progressive shifts in attitudes towards abortion over time, but stigma against women and girls who seek abortion remains substantial among staff at facilities providing abortion. Providers who offer abortion services also report high levels of discrimination and isolation from colleagues. Such factors, combined with operational barriers to offering quality abortion care (such as lack of training support or financial incentives) and lack of clarity on CO definitions and procedures, may incentivise some providers to invoke CO inappropriately. Dissemination of national guidelines on CO should be prioritised to reduce ambiguity, and interventions addressing abortion stigma should be considered for all facility staff to safeguard abortion availability in South Africa.

Provider verbal disrespect in the provision of family planning in public-sector facilities in Western Kenya

Public-sector healthcare providers in low- and middle-income countries are a primary source of family planning but their disrespectful (i.e., demeaning or insulting) treatment of family planning clients may impede free contraceptive choice. The construct of disrespect and abuse has been widely applied to similar phenomena in maternity care and could help to better understand provider mistreatment of family planning clients. With a focus on public-sector family planning provision in western Kenya, we aim to estimate the prevalence and impact of disrespect and abuse from a variety of perspectives and advance methodological approaches to measuring this construct in the context of family planning provision. We combine and triangulate data from a variety of sources across five counties in western Kenya, including 180 mystery clients, 253 third-party observations, eight focus group discussions, 19 key informant interviews, and two journey mapping workshops. Across both mystery client and third-party observations conducted in public-sector facilities in western Kenya, approximately one out of every ten family planning seekers was treated with disrespect by their provider. Family planning clients were frequently scolded for seeking family planning while unmarried or low parity, but mistreatment was not limited to women with these specific characteristics. Women were also insulted for such characteristics as body size or perceived sexual promiscuity. Qualitative data confirmed both that client disrespect is widespread and leads women to avoid family planning services even when they desire to use a contraceptive method, sometimes leading to unintended pregnancies. Key informants attribute disrespectful provider practices to both low technical skill as well as poor motivation stemming from both intrinsic values as well as extrinsic factors such as low wages and high caseloads. Possible solutions suggested by key informants included changes to recruitment and admission for Kenyan medical/nursing schools, as well as values clarification to shift provider motivations. Interventions to reduce mistreatment must be multi-layered and well-evidenced to ensure that family planning clients receive the person-centered care that enables them to achieve their contraceptive desires and reproductive freedom.

Prevalence of breastfeeding in the public health sector of Argentina according to the National Survey on Breastfeeding of 2017.

Breastfeeding reduces the risk for morbidity and mortality in children and also provides environmental and financial advantages. Breastfeeding monitoring is critical for public policies. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of breastfeeding in the population seeking care in the public sector, compare this prevalence to data from 2015, and assess associated outcome measures. Cross-sectional, observational study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect intake and sociodemographic data from infants aged < 6 months (n = 15 322) and 12-15 months (n = 3243) who sought care from public sector health care providers spontaneously between August and September 2017. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants < 6 months was 53.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 52.7-54.3); and at 4 and 6 months, 51.5% (95% CI: 49.7-53.4) and 41.7% (95% CI: 39.8-43.5), respectively. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding at 4 and 6 months increased compared to 2015 (p < 0.001). The prevalence of breastfeeding among infants aged 12-15 months was 77.8% (95% CI: 76.4-79.3). The following variables were independently associated with a lower frequency of exclusive breastfeeding (< 6 months old) and breastfeeding: older age, lower level of maternal education, delivery via C-section, low birth weight, initial breastfeeding after the first hour, and separation of the mother-child dyad ≥ 4 hours a day. Exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months and continued breastfeeding showed certain improvement, but the rate of breastfed infants is still below desirable levels.

Quality of inpatient care of small and sick newborns in Pakistan: perceptions of key stakeholders

BackgroundIn LMICs including Pakistan, neonatal health and survival is a critical challenge, and therefore improving the quality of facility-based newborn care services is instrumental in averting newborn mortality. This paper presents the perceptions of the key stakeholders in the public sector to explore factors influencing the care of small and sick newborns and young infants in inpatient care settings across Pakistan.MethodsThis exploratory study was part of a larger study assessing the situation of newborn and young infant in-patient care provided across all four provinces and administrative regions of Pakistan. We conducted 43 interviews. Thirty interviews were conducted with the public sector health care providers involved in newborn and young infant care and 13 interviews were carried out with health planners and managers working at the provincial level. A semi-structured interview guide was used to explore participants’ perspectives on enablers and barriers to the quality of care provided to small and sick newborns at the facility level. The interviews were manually analyzed using thematic content analysis.FindingsThe study respondents identified multiple barriers contributing to the poor quality of small and sick newborn care at inpatient care settings. This includes an absence of neonatal care standards, inadequate infrastructure and equipment for the care of small and sick newborns, deficient workforce for neonatal case management, inadequate thermal care management for newborns, inadequate referral system, absence of multidisciplinary approach in neonatal case management and need to institute strong monitoring system to prevent neonatal deaths and stillbirths. The only potential enabling factor was the improved federal and provincial oversight for reproductive, maternal, and newborn care.ConclusionThis qualitative study was insightful in identifying the challenges that influence the quality of inpatient care for small and sick newborns and the resources needed to fix these. There is a need to equip Sick Newborn Care Units with needed supplies, equipment and medicines, deployment of specialist staff, strengthening of in-service training and staff supervision, liaison with the neonatal experts in customizing neonatal care guidelines for inpatient care settings and to inculcate the culture for inter-disciplinary team meetings at inpatient care settings across the country.

Baseline assessment of therapeutic injection practices in Pakistan in 2020: a cross-sectional study

Objective: To assess the magnitude of the problem of injection safety in public and private health facilities in two districts of Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan.&#x0D; Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted between October and December 2020 among public and private health facilities of two districts of Pakistan: Gujarat in Punjab and Larkana in Sindh provinces. A convenient sample size of 60 healthcare facilities (30 from each district) was taken due to time and resource constraint. Six data collection tools were used which included structured observations and interviews with injection prescribers and providers based on WHO Revised Tool C, which were finalised after piloting.&#x0D; Results: Reuse of injection equipment was not observed in any of the 60 health facilities. In exit interviews of 120 patients, it was found that 27 (22.5%) patients reported receiving an injection, while 11 (9.2%) were prescribed intravenous (IV) drips. More injections and drips were prescribed in the private sector (n=15; 25.0%) in comparison with the public sector (n=12; 20.0%). Slightly higher proportion of IV drips were prescribed by the private providers when compared to public sector healthcare providers: 6 (10.0%) vs 5 (8.3%) respectively. Most of the prescribers (n=58; 96.7%) reported that patients who attended public and private health facilities demanded injectable medicines. Used syringes and drips were noted to be visible in open containers and buckets for final disposal in 20 (33.3%) assessed health facilities.&#x0D; Continuou...

Confidence and performance of health workers in cardiovascular risk factor management in rural Botswana: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Social and demographic changes in Botswana are resulting in an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Providers, mostly nurses, in this setting have limited training in managing CVD risk and few opportunities for continued medical education. We aimed to evaluate providers' perceived confidence in managing CVD risk factors and describe management of patients with hypertension at public-sector clinics in a rural district of Botswana. Methods In this cross-sectional study, we invited public-sector health-care providers in 11 ambulatory clinics in the Kweneng East district of Botswana to complete an anonymous questionnaire survey. We used descriptive statistics to evaluate providers' confidence in managing CVD risk (a Likert scale from 1 [low confidence] to 5 [high confidence]). We used t tests to compare confidence levels between groups of providers and specific risk factors. Additionally, we interviewed patients and did chart reviews to assess how CVD risk factors were managed in 275 hypertensive patients at seven of the 11 sites surveyed. Uncontrolled hypertension was defined as ≥140/90 mm Hg (or ≥130/80 mm Hg in patients with diabetes) for an average of two blood pressure readings and CVD risk was defined using WHO guidelines. Findings Of 88 health care providers invited to participate, 44 registered nurses (80%), four family nurse practitioners (7%), and seven doctors (13%) completed the survey. Providers reported feeling significantly more comfortable managing hypertension than they did diabetes (3·73 vs 3·15; p Interpretation Public sector health-care providers in rural Botswana have low confidence in managing CVD risk factors. Although reported confidence was higher for management of hypertension than for diabetes, there were significant lapses in management of both diseases. CVD and diabetes account for 22% of all adult deaths in Botswana and it is imperative that training in management of these diseases is improved. To address low provider confidence and gaps in guideline-driven CVD prevention, we plan to implement an integrative training programme for health workers in the Kweneng East district of Botswana. Funding Hospital Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Does task shifting among parts of a weak health system help?

Does task shifting among parts of a weak health system help?

Effect of provision of home-based curative health services by public sector health-care providers on neonatal survival: a community-based cluster-randomised trial in rural Pakistan

SummaryBackgroundAlthough the effectiveness of community mobilisation and promotive care delivered by community health workers in reducing perinatal and neonatal mortality is well established, evidence in support of home-based neonatal resuscitation and infection management is mixed. We assessed the effectiveness of adding training in neonatal bag and mask resuscitation and oral antibiotic therapy for suspected neonatal infections to a basic preventive and promotive interventions package delivered by public sector community-based lady health workers (LHWs) in rural Pakistan.MethodsWe did a cluster-randomised controlled trial in two subdistricts of Naushahro Feroze in rural Sindh, Pakistan, between April 15, 2009, and Dec 10, 2012. LHWs, trained in basic newborn resuscitation and in recognition and treatment (with oral amoxicillin) of suspected neonatal respiratory infections, were linked with traditional birth attendants and encouraged to attend home births. Control clusters received routine care through the existing national programme. The primary outcome was all-cause neonatal mortality. Independent data collection teams recorded data for all pregnancies and their outcomes, morbidity, mortality, and household practices related to maternal and newborn care.FindingsOf the 27 randomised clusters with functional LHW programmes, 13 were allocated to the intervention group (n=242 749) and 14 to the control group (n=256 985). In the intervention group, LHWs did 80% of the planned community mobilisation sessions, but were able to attend only 1184 (14%) of 8425 deliveries and 4318 (25%) of 17 288 neonatal visits within 72 h of birth (p<0·0001 for both variables compared with the control group). The neonatal mortality rate was 42 deaths per 1000 livebirths in intervention clusters compared with 55 per 1000 in the control group (risk ratio 0·80, 95% CI 0·68–0·93; p=0·005).InterpretationThe reduction in neonatal mortality in intervention clusters occurred against a background of improvements in domiciliary practices for maternal and newborn care. However, the poor reach of LHWs in accessing newborn infants at birth and in the early postnatal period underscores the limitations of tasking community health workers in public sector programmes working in similar circumstances with such complex interventions. Such community-based interventions in health systems should be accompanied by concerted efforts to improve quality of care in facilities and referral systems.FundingSaving Newborn Lives, Save the Children USA.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding dengue infection among public sector healthcare providers in Machala, Ecuador.

BackgroundDengue fever is a rapidly emerging infection throughout the tropics and subtropics with extensive public health burden. Adequate training of healthcare providers is crucial to reducing infection incidence through patient education and collaboration with public health authorities. We examined how public sector healthcare providers in a dengue-endemic region of Ecuador view and manage dengue infections, with a focus on the 2009 World Health Organization (WHO) Dengue Guidelines.MethodsA 37-item questionnaire of dengue knowledge, attitudes, and practices was developed and administered to dengue healthcare providers in Machala, Ecuador. Survey focus areas included: “Demographics,” “Infection and Prevention of Dengue,” “Dengue Diagnosis and the WHO Dengue Guide,” “Laboratory Testing,” “Treatment of Dengue,” and “Opinions Regarding Dengue.”ResultsA total of 76 healthcare providers participated in this study, of which 82 % were medical doctors and 14 % were nurses. Fifty-eight percent of healthcare professionals practiced in ambulatory clinics and 34 % worked in a hospital. Eighty-nine percent of respondents were familiar with the 2009 WHO Dengue Guidelines, and, within that group, 97 % reported that the WHO Dengue Guide was helpful in dengue diagnosis and clinical management. Knowledge gaps identified included Aedes aegypti mosquito feeding habits and dengue epidemiology. Individuals with greater dengue-related knowledge were more likely to consider dengue a major health problem. Only 22 % of respondents correctly reported that patients with comorbidities and dengue without warning signs require hospital admission, and 25 % of providers reported never admitting patients with dengue to the hospital. Twenty percent of providers reported rarely (≤25 % of cases) obtaining laboratory confirmation of dengue infection. Providers reported patient presumptive self-medication as an ongoing problem. Thirty-one percent of healthcare providers reported inadequate access to resources needed to diagnose and treat dengue.ConclusionParticipants demonstrated a high level of knowledge of dengue symptoms and treatment, but additional training regarding prevention, diagnosis, and admission criteria is needed. Interventions should not only focus on increasing knowledge, but also encourage review of the WHO Dengue Guidelines, avoidance of presumptive self-medication, and recognition of dengue as a major health problem. This study provided an assessment tool that effectively captured healthcare providers’ knowledge and identified critical gaps in practice.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40794-016-0024-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

To serve or to leave: a question faced by public sector healthcare providers in Pakistan.

BackgroundThe availability of properly trained and motivated providers is a prerequisite for provision of easily accessible healthcare. Pakistan has been listed by the World Health Organization in its World Health Report 2006 as one of 57 countries with a critical health workforce deficiency. This study examines the factors associated with the willingness of public sector healthcare providers to leave government service and recommends measures that can be adopted to attract and retain staff in the country’s public healthcare system.MethodsA stratified, random sampling methodology was adopted to recruit a nationally representative sample of 1,296 public sector healthcare providers, including paramedics, medical doctors, and specialists. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to interview these providers. Logistic regressions measured the association with determinants of their willingness to leave the public health sector for better prospects elsewhere.ResultsA third of all healthcare providers who were interviewed were of the view that, provided the opportunity, they would leave government service. The odds of willingness to leave service were highest among providers from the region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 4.33; 95% CI, 2.49–7.54) followed by the province of Balochistan (AOR = 4.21; 95% CI, 2.41–7.33), and the region of Gilgit Baltistan (AOR = 3.34; 95% CI, 1.67–6.67). Providers who expressed dissatisfaction in the manner their performance was evaluated and those who were dissatisfied with the current salary, each had higher odds of considering leaving government service (AOR = 1.67; 95% CI, 1.18–2.40 and AOR = 2.03; 95% CI, 1.47–2.81, respectively). Providers who reported experiencing interference in their work by influential politicians of the area were more inclined to leave (AOR = 1.44; 95% CI, 1.05–1.98).ConclusionThis study clearly highlights the need to implement more focused strategies in the public healthcare system in Pakistan in order to build sufficient staff motivation and prevent providers from leaving government service. In order to improve coverage of healthcare services in Pakistan, the government will have to introduce more focused interventions to attract and retain healthcare providers, especially in remote and rural areas of the country.

Health seeking behaviour and health awareness among rural and urban adolescents in Dehradun District, Uttarakhand, India.

Adolescents constituted 19% population of India in 2011. Adolescents have health seeking behaviour different from that of adults. We estimated the utilisation of available health care services by adolescents and awareness regarding various health issues in the urban and rural Dehradun District, Uttarakhand, India. We also described knowledge and practices of public sector health care providers. We conducted a cross-sectional survey among adolescents 10-19 years in the urban Dehradun and rural Chakrata block of the Dehradun District. We used cluster sampling with sample size 680 each in urban and rural areas. We collected data from adolescents using semi structured questionnaire on health awareness and utilisation of health care services. Public sector health care providers were surveyed about their knowledge and practices regarding adolescents health. We surveyed 1463 adolescents. The overall mean age was 14.4 (2.6) years, about half being females. Half of the adolescents who had any illness used the public sector. Awareness about anaemia was 48% in urban and 12% in rural areas. A higher proportion of females (Rural: 89%, Urban: 76%) were aware of condoms as contraceptives than males (Rural: 68%, Urban: 12%). Only 62% of doctors and 49% of paramedical staff had knowledge regarding services under Adolescents Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH). Awareness regarding various health issues was low among males as compared to females, especially in rural areas. School based health promotion programs should be carried out to increase awareness among adolescents. Health facilities should be strengthened to provide adolescent friendly health services to enhance utilisation.

Conceptualizations of Postpartum Depression by Public-Sector Health Care Providers in Mexico

In this article we describe the knowledge frameworks that 61 physicians, nurses, social workers, and psychologists from five public-sector health care facilities in Mexico used to conceptualize postpartum depression. We also demonstrate how providers applied social and behavioral antecedents in their conceptualizations of postpartum depression. Using grounded theory, we identify two frameworks that providers used to conceptualize postpartum depression: biochemical and adjustment. We highlight an emerging model of the function of social and behavioral antecedents within the frameworks, as well as the representation of postpartum depression by symptoms of distress and the perception among providers that these symptoms affected responsibilities associated with motherhood. The results provide a foundation for future study of how providers' conceptualizations of postpartum depression might affect detection and treatment practices and might be useful in the development of training materials to enhance the quality of care for women who experience any form of distress in the postpartum period.

Transferring research and innovation Living Lab (TRAIL): Experience of a living lab

In 2006, the Finnish EU Presidency launched a new public-private-partnership (PPP) innovation model called the European Network of Living Labs (ENOLL). There are currently over 100 labs accounting for a network of more than 70 million-end users that connect the capabilities of local prototyping-grounds with a critical mass to attract investments (Annerstedt and Haselmayer, 2006). The University of Ulster is making a significant contribution to the living lab concept through its TRAIL initiative. TRAIL represents a developing Public-Private Partnership (PPP) where companies, public authorities and communities work together creating, prototyping, validating and testing new services, businesses, markets and technologies in real-life contexts in the regions, rural areas and virtual spaces between public and private players in the region of the North of Ireland. It is our strategic intention to collaborate further with our existing international networks and to integrate fully our activities with ENOLL members and other international clusters.Methods:This paper presents two case studies of research projects adopting the living lab approach of user-driven innovation, where empirical research suggests that user-driven innovations are more fruitful as a major source of innovation (von Hippel, 1988). Specifically this work engages with older people as the co-creators of innovation close to market, central to the research and innovation of devices and services to address their specific needs. NOCTURNAL is a project with a focus on the night-time needs of people with early stage dementia exploring if technology can be used as a therapeutic intervention building on the telecare risk management platform. A second project will be presented “myHealth@age” which explores the specific needs of healthy older people living in isolated rural communities. Both research projects have developed consortiums including older people, academia, public sector healthcare providers and industry.Results and Discussion:Delivering user-driven innovation in practice within TRAIL is rewarding and challenging, this paper will focus on some of the emerging issues within the lab. There is a significant body of academic research that supports the premise that user-driven innovation creates value in markets and for society. The network of living labs in Europe has been created, partly based upon this premise, but it can be argued that there is a lack of evidence that demonstrates how such living labs articulate their value proposition, and how they carry out activities on the ground to work with users to create the added valued inherent in early innovation processes. The issues of working with vulnerable users; managing the tension between users needs and advancing the research agenda and balancing this with the desires of the industrial partners will be considered within this presentation.

Healthcare Institution Risk Assessments: Concentration on “Process” or “Outcome”?

Healthcare institutions currently demonstrate increasing attention to risk analysis and risk management. A particular manifestation for English public sector healthcare providers was a “Controls Assurance” risk assessment and action planning framework. This required annual, very detailed, reports to central government, spanning 22 major areas from infection control to fire safety. Much of this framework continues into a successor system giving greater local flexibility but “regulated” via significant external audit. To help establish an analytical approach suitable for the new requirements, we have attempted to dissect out factors strongly influencing risk judgements made for Controls Assurance. Focussing on the “Medical Devices Management” area, which required a particularly detailed self‐assessment against 31 specified criteria, we paid close attention to issues of process (policies and committees) as against outcome (appropriate equipment operated by a trained practitioner). We also reviewed organisational (“system”) issues as against individual and, as far as practicable, subjective risk judgements as against those for which objective evidence could be presented. Our key finding was that criteria yielding poor Controls Assurance (high risk) scores were predominantly outcome orientated. From this we suggest that future analyses should pay explicit attention to the process–outcome balance within the structure of the assessment process.

Health worker (internal customer) satisfaction and motivation in the public sector in Ghana

This paper describes factors affecting health worker motivation and satisfaction in the public sector in Ghana. The data are from a survey of public sector health care providers carried out in January 2002 and repeated in August 2003 using an interviewer administered structured questionnaire. It is part of a continuous quality improvement (CQI) effort in the health sector in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Workplace obstacles identified that caused dissatisfaction and de-motivated staff in order of the most frequently mentioned were low salaries such that obtaining basic necessities of daily living becomes a problem; lack of essential equipment, tools and supplies to work with; delayed promotions; difficulties and inconveniences with transportation to work; staff shortages; housing, additional duty allowances and in-service (continuous) training. Others included children's education, vehicles to work with such as ambulances and pickups, staff transfer procedures, staff pre-service education inadequate for job requirements, and the effect of the job on family and other social factors. There were some differences in the percentages of staff selecting a given workplace obstacle between the purely rural districts, the highly urbanized Accra metropolis and the districts that were a mixture of urbanized and rural. It is unlikely that the Ghana Health Service can provide high quality of care to its end users (external customers) if workplace obstacles that de-motivate staff (internal customers) and negatively influence their performance are not properly recognized and addressed as a complex of inter-related problems producing a common result--dissatisfied poorly motivated staff and resulting poor quality services.