TY - JOUR
T1 - A newly developed tool for measuring the availability of human resources for emergency obstetric and newborn care services
T2 - Prospective analytic study in two district-level public facilities in Bangladesh
AU - Biswas, Taposh Kumar
AU - Begum, Anjuman Ara
AU - Akther, Shamima
AU - Rahman, M. Hafizur
AU - Perry, Henry B.
AU - Jones, Heidi E.
AU - Chowdhury, Mahbub Elahi
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of Bangladesh for allowing us to conduct the study in their health facilities. Also acknowledge the support of “MaMoni” project of SavetheChildren for their co-operation during implementation of the study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).
PY - 2018/9/4
Y1 - 2018/9/4
N2 - Background: In Bangladesh, while the infrastructure of public health facilities to provide maternal and newborn care services is adequate, services are not always available due to insufficient staffing. A human resource availability index for health facilities is needed for monitoring and advocacy. This study aimed to develop indices for measuring the availability of different types of human resources to provide round-the-clock emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) service at district-level public facilities. Methods: As part of a larger intervention study, 30 days of prospective observation of providers was done at a district hospital (DH) and a mother and child welfare centre (MCWC) in one district of Bangladesh using checklists. A scoring system was developed to create an index to quantify the availability of providers for maternal and newborn care. Results: Based on the newly developed index, medical doctors in the emergency department of the DH were 100% available, but ranged from 27 to 41% availability in the obstetrics/gynecology (ob/gyn) and pediatric wards. In MCWC, the corresponding indices ranged from 32 to 36%. In the DH, the availability of nurses in the ob/gyn ward (96%) was relatively better than in the pediatric ward (65%) but that in operation theatre was only 31%. In the MCWC, the index for the presence of a paramedic or nursing aid was 82% in the ob/gyn ward and 63% in the operation theatre. However, the availability scores of facility support staff for maintenance and security were generally high (over 90%) in both facilities. Conclusions: Our newly developed index on availability of providers demonstrated huge gaps in availability of providers in evening and night shifts in most of the disciplines in the study facilities. This provider availability index is easy to create and can be used as a meaningful tool to quantify gaps in human resources by type in various types of district-level health facilities. Further studies are needed for adaptation of this tool in different types of health facilities and to assess its implication as an advocacy tool.
AB - Background: In Bangladesh, while the infrastructure of public health facilities to provide maternal and newborn care services is adequate, services are not always available due to insufficient staffing. A human resource availability index for health facilities is needed for monitoring and advocacy. This study aimed to develop indices for measuring the availability of different types of human resources to provide round-the-clock emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) service at district-level public facilities. Methods: As part of a larger intervention study, 30 days of prospective observation of providers was done at a district hospital (DH) and a mother and child welfare centre (MCWC) in one district of Bangladesh using checklists. A scoring system was developed to create an index to quantify the availability of providers for maternal and newborn care. Results: Based on the newly developed index, medical doctors in the emergency department of the DH were 100% available, but ranged from 27 to 41% availability in the obstetrics/gynecology (ob/gyn) and pediatric wards. In MCWC, the corresponding indices ranged from 32 to 36%. In the DH, the availability of nurses in the ob/gyn ward (96%) was relatively better than in the pediatric ward (65%) but that in operation theatre was only 31%. In the MCWC, the index for the presence of a paramedic or nursing aid was 82% in the ob/gyn ward and 63% in the operation theatre. However, the availability scores of facility support staff for maintenance and security were generally high (over 90%) in both facilities. Conclusions: Our newly developed index on availability of providers demonstrated huge gaps in availability of providers in evening and night shifts in most of the disciplines in the study facilities. This provider availability index is easy to create and can be used as a meaningful tool to quantify gaps in human resources by type in various types of district-level health facilities. Further studies are needed for adaptation of this tool in different types of health facilities and to assess its implication as an advocacy tool.
KW - Bangladesh
KW - District hospital
KW - Human resources
KW - Index
KW - Maternal and newborn care
KW - Mother and child welfare Centre
KW - Round-the-clock services
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U2 - 10.1186/s12913-018-3511-1
DO - 10.1186/s12913-018-3511-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 30180827
AN - SCOPUS:85053144292
SN - 1472-6963
VL - 18
JO - BMC health services research
JF - BMC health services research
IS - 1
M1 - 688
ER -