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Service delivery in Kenyan district hospitals - what can we learn from literature on mid-level managers?

ABSTRACT: There is a growing emphasis on the need to tackle inadequate human resources for health (HRH) as an essential part of strengthening health systems; but the focus is mostly on macro-level issues, such as training, recruitment, skill mix and distribution. Few attempts have been made to understand the capability of health workers, their motivation and other structural and organizational aspects of systems that influence workforce performance. We have examined literature on the roles of mid-level managers to help us understand how they might influence service delivery quality in Kenyan hospitals. In the Kenyan hospital settings, these are roles that head of departments who are also clinical or nursing service providers might play.A computerized search strategy was run in Pub Med, Cochrane Library, Directory of Open Access Journals Social Science Research Network, Eldis, Google Scholar and Human Resources for Health web site databases using both free-text and MeSH terms from 1980 to 2011. In addition, citation searching from excluded and included articles was used and relevant unpublished literature systematically identified.A total of 23 articles were finally included in the review from over 7000 titles and abstracts initially identified. The most widely documented roles of mid-level managers were decision-making or problem-solving, strategist or negotiator and communicator. Others included being a therapist or motivator, goal setting or articulation and mentoring or coaching. In addition to these roles, we identified important personal attributes of a good manager, which included interpersonal skills, delegation and accountability, and honesty. The majority of studies included in the review concerned the roles that mid-level managers are expected to play in times of organizational change.This review highlights the possible significance of mid-level managers in achieving delivery of high-quality services in Kenyan public hospitals and strongly suggests that approaches to strengthen this level of management will be valuable. The findings from this review should also help inform empirical studies of the roles of mid-level managers in these settings.

SUBMITTER: Nzinga J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3599555 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Service delivery in Kenyan district hospitals - what can we learn from literature on mid-level managers?

Nzinga Jacinta J Mbaabu Lairumbi L English Mike M

Human resources for health 20130226

<h4>Background</h4>There is a growing emphasis on the need to tackle inadequate human resources for health (HRH) as an essential part of strengthening health systems; but the focus is mostly on macro-level issues, such as training, recruitment, skill mix and distribution. Few attempts have been made to understand the capability of health workers, their motivation and other structural and organizational aspects of systems that influence workforce performance. We have examined literature on the ro ...[more]

PMID: 23442524

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Project description:It is increasingly appreciated that the interpretation of health systems research studies is greatly facilitated by detailed descriptions of study context and the process of intervention. We have undertaken an 18-month hospital-based intervention study in Kenya aiming to improve care for admitted children and newborn infants. Here we describe the baseline characteristics of the eight hospitals as environments receiving the intervention, as well as the general and local health system context and its evolution over the 18 months.Hospital characteristics were assessed using previously developed tools assessing the broad structure, process, and outcome of health service provision for children and newborns. Major health system or policy developments over the period of the intervention at a national level were documented prospectively by monitoring government policy announcements, the media, and through informal contacts with policy makers. At the hospital level, a structured, open questionnaire was used in face-to-face meetings with senior hospital staff every six months to identify major local developments that might influence implementation. These data provide an essential background for those seeking to understand the generalisability of reports describing the intervention's effects, and whether the intervention plausibly resulted in these effects.Hospitals had only modest capacity, in terms of infrastructure, equipment, supplies, and human resources available to provide high-quality care at baseline. For example, hospitals were lacking between 30 to 56% of items considered necessary for the provision of care to the seriously ill child or newborn. An increase in spending on hospital renovations, attempts to introduce performance contracts for health workers, and post-election violence were recorded as examples of national level factors that might influence implementation success generally. Examples of factors that might influence success locally included frequent and sometimes numerous staff changes, movements of senior departmental or administrative staff, and the presence of local 'donor' partners with alternative priorities.The effectiveness of interventions delivered at hospital level over periods realistically required to achieve change may be influenced by a wide variety of factors at national and local levels. We have demonstrated how dynamic such contexts are, and therefore the need to consider context when interpreting an intervention's effectiveness.

Project description:The objective of the prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (pMTCT) cascade analysis tool is to provide frontline health managers at the facility level with the means to rapidly, independently and quantitatively track patient flows through the pMTCT cascade, and readily identify priority areas for clinic-level improvement interventions. Over a period of six months, five experienced maternal-child health managers and researchers iteratively adapted and tested this systems analysis tool for pMTCT services. They prioritized components of the pMTCT cascade for inclusion, disseminated multiple versions to 27 health managers and piloted it in five facilities. Process mapping techniques were used to chart PMTCT cascade steps in these five facilities, to document antenatal care attendance, HIV testing and counseling, provision of prophylactic anti-retrovirals, safe delivery, safe infant feeding, infant follow-up including HIV testing, and family planning, in order to obtain site-specific knowledge of service delivery.Seven pMTCT cascade steps were included in the Excel-based final tool. Prevalence calculations were incorporated as sub-headings under relevant steps. Cells not requiring data inputs were locked, wording was simplified and stepwise drop-offs and maximization functions were included at key steps along the cascade. While the drop off function allows health workers to rapidly assess how many patients were lost at each step, the maximization function details the additional people served if only one step improves to 100% capacity while others stay constant.Our experience suggests that adaptation of a cascade analysis tool for facility-level pMTCT services is feasible and appropriate as a starting point for discussions of where to implement improvement strategies. The resulting tool facilitates the engagement of frontline health workers and managers who fill out, interpret, apply the tool, and then follow up with quality improvement activities. Research on adoption, interpretation, and sustainability of this pMTCT cascade analysis tool by frontline health managers is needed.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02023658, December 9, 2013.

Project description:BackgroundIn developing countries referral of severely ill children from primary care to district hospitals is common, but hospital care is often of poor quality. However, strategies to change multiple paediatric care practices in rural hospitals have rarely been evaluated.Methods and findingsThis cluster randomized trial was conducted in eight rural Kenyan district hospitals, four of which were randomly assigned to a full intervention aimed at improving quality of clinical care (evidence-based guidelines, training, job aides, local facilitation, supervision, and face-to-face feedback; n? =? 4) and the remaining four to control intervention (guidelines, didactic training, job aides, and written feedback; n ?=? 4). Prespecified structure, process, and outcome indicators were measured at baseline and during three and five 6-monthly surveys in control and intervention hospitals, respectively. Primary outcomes were process of care measures, assessed at 18 months postbaseline. In both groups performance improved from baseline. Completion of admission assessment tasks was higher in intervention sites at 18 months (mean? =? 0.94 versus 0.65, adjusted difference 0.54 [95% confidence interval 0.05-0.29]). Uptake of guideline recommended therapeutic practices was also higher within intervention hospitals: adoption of once daily gentamicin (89.2% versus 74.4%; 17.1% [8.04%-26.1%]); loading dose quinine (91.9% versus 66.7%, 26.3% [-3.66% to 56.3%]); and adequate prescriptions of intravenous fluids for severe dehydration (67.2% versus 40.6%; 29.9% [10.9%-48.9%]). The proportion of children receiving inappropriate doses of drugs in intervention hospitals was lower (quinine dose >40 mg/kg/day; 1.0% versus 7.5%; -6.5% [-12.9% to 0.20%]), and inadequate gentamicin dose (2.2% versus 9.0%; -6.8% [-11.9% to -1.6%]).ConclusionsSpecific efforts are needed to improve hospital care in developing countries. A full, multifaceted intervention was associated with greater changes in practice spanning multiple, high mortality conditions in rural Kenyan hospitals than a partial intervention, providing one model for bridging the evidence to practice gap and improving admission care in similar settings.

Project description:BackgroundThe planning, resourcing, implementation and monitoring of new programmes by district health managers is integral for success and sustainability. Ethiopia introduced the Community-Based Newborn Care programme in 2014 to improve newborn survival: an innovative component allowed community health workers to provide antibiotics for young infants with possible serious bacterial infection when referral was not possible. Informed by the World Health Organization health system building block framework, we aimed to study the capacity and operational challenges of introducing this new health service from the perspective of programme implementers and managers at the district level 20 months after programme initiation.MethodsThis qualitative study was part of a programme evaluation. From November to December of 2015, we conducted 28 semi-structured interviews with staff at district health offices, health centres and implementing Non-Governmental Organisations in 15 districts of four regions of Ethiopia. Verbatim transcripts were analysed using a priori and emerging themes.ResultsIn line with the government's commitment to treat sick newborns close to their homes, participants reported that community health workers had been successfully trained to provide injectable antibiotics. However, the Community-Based Newborn Care programme was scaled up without allowing the health system to adapt to programme needs. There were inadequate processes and standards to ensure consistent availability of (1) trained staff for technical supervision, (2) antibiotics and (3) monitoring data specific to the programme. Furthermore, Non-Governmental Organizations played a central implementing role, which had implications for the long-term district level ownership and thus for the sustainability of the programme.ConclusionIn settings where sustainable local implementation depends on district-level health teams, new programmes should assess health system preparedness to absorb the service, and plan accordingly. Our findings can inform policy makers and implementers about the pre-conditions for a health system to introduce similar services and maximize long-term success.

Project description:BackgroundDistrict hospital services in Kenya and many low-income countries should deliver proven, effective interventions that could substantially reduce child and newborn mortality. However such services are often of poor quality. Researchers have therefore been challenged to identify intervention strategies that go beyond addressing knowledge, skill, or resource inadequacies to support health systems to deliver better services at scale. An effort to develop a system-oriented intervention tailored to local needs and context and drawing on theory is described.MethodsAn intervention was designed to improve district hospital services for children based on four main strategies: a reflective process to distill root causes for the observed problems with service delivery; developing a set of possible intervention approaches to address these problems; a search of literature for theory that provided the most appropriate basis for intervention design; and repeatedly moving backwards and forwards between identified causes, proposed interventions, identified theory, and knowledge of the existing context to develop an overarching intervention that seemed feasible and likely to be acceptable and potentially sustainable.Results and discussionIn addition to human and resource constraints key problems included failures of relevant professionals to take responsibility for or ownership of the challenge of pediatric service delivery; inadequately prepared, poorly supported leaders of service units (mid-level managers) who are often professionally and geographically isolated and an almost complete lack of useful information for routinely monitoring or understanding service delivery practice or outcomes. A system-oriented intervention recognizing the pivotal role of leaders of service units but addressing the outer and inner setting of hospitals was designed to help shape and support an appropriate role for these professionals. It aims to foster a sense of ownership while providing the necessary understanding, knowledge, and skills for mid-level managers to work effectively with senior managers and frontline staff to improve services. The intervention will include development of an information system, feedback mechanisms, and discussion fora that promote positive change. The vehicle for such an intervention is a collaborative network partnering government and national professional associations. This case is presented to promote discussion on approaches to developing context appropriate interventions particularly in international health.

Project description:IntroductionThe continuum of care is a recommended framework for comprehensive health service delivery for maternal health, and it integrates health system and social determinants of health. There is a current lack of knowledge on a measurement approach to monitor performance on the framework. In this study we aim to develop and test a composite index for assessing the maternal health continuum in a province in South Africa with the possibility of nationwide use.Materials and methodsThe composite index was computed as a geometric mean of four dimensions of adequacy of the continuum of care. Data was sourced from the district health information system, household surveys and the census. The index formula was tested for robustness when alternative inputs for indicators and standardization methods were used. The index was used to assess performance in service delivery in the North West province of South Africa, as well as its four districts over a five-year period (2013-2017). The index was validated by assessing associations with maternal health and other outcomes. And factor analysis was used to assess the statistical dimensions of the index.ResultsThe provincial level index score increased from 62.3 in 2013 to 74 in 2017, showing general improvement in service delivery over time. The district level scores also improved over time, and our analysis identified areas for performance improvement. These include social determinants of health in some districts, and access and linkages to care in others. The provincial index was correlated with institutional maternal mortality rates (rs = -0.90, 90% CI = (-1.00, -0.25)) and the Human Development Index (r = 0.97, 95% CI = (0.63, 0.99). It was robust to alternative approaches including z-score standardization of indicators. Factor analysis showed three groupings of indicators for the health system and social determinants of health.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated the development and testing of a composite index to monitor and assess service delivery on the continuum of care for maternal health. The index was shown to be robust and valid, and identified potential areas for service improvement. A contextualised version can be tested in other settings within and outside of South Africa.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Over the last decade, Ethiopia has made impressive national improvements in health outcomes, including reductions in maternal, neonatal, infant, and child mortality attributed in large part to their Health Extension Program (HEP). As this program continues to evolve and improve, understanding the unit cost of health extension worker (HEW) services is fundamental to planning for future growth and ensuring adequate financial support to deliver effective primary care throughout the country. METHODS:We sought to examine and report the data needed to generate a HEW fee schedule that would allow for full cost recovery for HEW services. Using HEW activity data and estimates from national studies and local systems we were able to estimate salary costs and the average time spent by an HEW per patient/community encounter for each type of services associated with specific users. Using this information, we created separate fee schedules for activities in urban and rural settings with two estimates of non-salary multipliers to calculate the total cost for HEW services. RESULTS:In the urban areas, the HEW fees for full cost recovery of the provision of services (including salary, supplies, and overhead costs) ranged from 55.1 birr to 209.1 birr per encounter. The rural HEW fees ranged from 19.6 birr to 219.4 birr. CONCLUSION:Efforts to support health system strengthening in low-income settings have often neglected to generate adequate, actionable data on the costs of primary care services. In this study, we have combined time-motion and available financial data to generate a fee schedule that allows for full cost recovery of the provision of services through billable health education and service encounters provided by Ethiopian HEWs. This may be useful in other country settings where managers seek to make evidence-informed planning and resource allocation decisions to address high burden of disease within the context of weak administrative data systems and severe financial constraints.

Project description:BackgroundIn assessing quality of care in developing countries, retrospectively collected data are usually used given their availability. Retrospective data however suffer from such biases as recall bias and non-response bias. Comparing results obtained using prospectively and retrospectively collected data will help validate the use of the easily available retrospective data in assessing quality of care in past and future studies.MethodsProspective and retrospective datasets were obtained from a cluster randomized trial of a multifaceted intervention aimed at improving paediatric inpatient care conducted in eight rural Kenyan district hospitals by improving management of children admitted with pneumonia, malaria and diarrhea and/or dehydration. Four hospitals received a full intervention and four a partial intervention. Data were collected through 3 two weeks surveys conducted at baseline, after 6 and 18 months. Retrospective data was sampled from paediatric medical records of patients discharged in the preceding six months of the survey while prospective data was collected from patients discharged during the two week period of each survey. Risk Differences during post-intervention period of 16 quality of care indicators were analyzed separately for prospective and retrospective datasets and later plotted side by side for comparison.ResultsFor the prospective data there was strong evidence of an intervention effect for 8 of the indicators and weaker evidence of an effect for one indicator, with magnitude of effect sizes varying from 23% to 60% difference. For the retrospective data, 10 process (these include the 8 indicators found to be statistically significant in prospective data analysis) indicators had statistically significant differences with magnitude of effects varying from 10% to 42%. The bar-graph comparing results from the prospective and retrospective datasets showed similarity in terms of magnitude of effects and statistical significance for all except two indicators.ConclusionMultifaceted interventions can help improve adoption of clinical guidelines and hence improve the quality of care. The similar inference reached after analyses based on prospective assessment of case management is a useful finding as it supports the utility of work based on examination of retrospectively assembled case records allowing longer time periods to be studied while constraining costs.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN42996612. Trial registration date: 20/11/2008.

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Service delivery in Kenyan district hospitals - what can we learn from literature on mid-level managers?

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Service delivery in Kenyan district hospitals - what can we learn from literature on mid-level managers?

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