Improving Staff Performance through Training and Development: A case of Ridge Hospital

Introduction

The Health institutions are acquiring the individuals that can help them promote the quality of health care service. Because of the growing problems in healthcare, staffs are often the center of issues. People who need medical attention noticed the sudden increase in the costs of the services provided for them, but did not appreciate the services delivered because of lack of competencies among the staff.

Background and Problem Statement

The hospital performance is the concept of efficiency because of the range of services and their quality. The ways of its efficiency is also judged through the performances of the staff. This is an important feature of performance to guide and monitor hospital management (Walford & Grant, 1998). The challenge among the hospitals is how to sustain the ability of the staff in order to stand in all the health problems and issues. Therefore, how can a hospital improve the performance of its staffs in the means of training and development?

Research Aim and Objectives

The main aim of the study is to determine the effective strategies to improve the performance of the staff in a hospital setting. The paper will look on the case of Ridge Hospital in Ghana to address the issues involved. In order to manage all the related information well, there are three objectives that need to be satisfied. First is to recognize the actions of the management in improving the performance of the staffs. Second is to measure the ability and capacity of the staff in managing the changes and challenges involved due to the growing health demands. And third is to demonstrate the appropriate intervention in training and development of staff to accompany them in their performance.

Literature Review

The key aspect of improving hospital efficiency is through the increased autonomy and focus from the specification and management of resource inputs. This will determine the number of staff needed, the allocation, funding, provision of supplies, the kind of services delivered and how efficient the services are. Hospitals are expected to provide the standards in the performance and monitoring seems to be one of the effective ways to address the improvement in performance among the staffs (Walford & Grant, 1998). Due to the high cost of health care services, it may reflect in the variations of efficiency. For example, the hospital resources are insufficient to answer the demand of the patients and the facilities might not enough to deliver the expected outcome. The amount of services provided in Ridge Hospital was assessed through comparing it with the other hospitals. In the examination of staffing ratios, there is a great indication that staffing varies depending on the facilities, which will affect the result of productivity. Ridge Hospital showed the lowest workload, with 800 inpatient days per doctor and 120 in-patient days per nurse (Adams, Darko, & Accorsi, 2004). In staffing, it is important that the hospitals can produce the valuable personnel who can perform well according to the objectives and goals of the healthcare settings. Therefore, it is vital to determine the roles and responsibilities for each member of the response team, particularly within the hospital to identify the areas needed to be focused. Hospitals are advised to be aware of overload because it is obviously impossible to schedule the entire team and compelled them to work at the same time. Employees need to get away from the stress and refresh once in a while to be effective when they return to the job. If possible, the managers or supervisors can ask other support through the means of communication, such in case of an outbreak or mass accident. The medical team and other nurses can somehow help the emergency procedures (CDCP, 2003).

Methodology

The suggested method in the study is through the use of survey and interview. In the first phase of the method, the survey questionnaires are distributed in the selected participants who will represent the entire staff’s population. The questionnaires are in a form of Likert Scale where the researcher/s can demonstrate the impact of training and development among the participants. In the second phase of the method, which is the interview, the managers, hospital head, and/or senior staffs are the participants. Their insights will contribute in the analysis of the study on the kind of performance anticipated by the leaders as compared to the outcome of the training and development.

References:

Adams, I., Darko, D., & Accorsi, S., (2004) Improving Efficiency, Assessing Efficiency in Service Delivery, Bulletin of Health Information 1 (1) [Online] Available at: http://www.ghanahealthservice.org/includes/upload/publications/Assessing%20efficiency%20in%20service%20delivery.pdf [Accessed 13 July, 2010]

CDCP, (2003) Roundtable on Hospital Communications in a Mass Casualty Radiological Event, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Online] Available at: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/pdf/hospitalroundtablereport.pdf [Accessed 13 July 2010].

Walford, V., & Grant, K., (1998) Health Sector Reform, Improving Hospital Efficiency [Online] Available at: http://www.dfidhealthrc.org/publications/Toolkits/HospEff.PDF [Accessed 13 July 2010]