Volume 3, Number 2


 

Improving the quality of healthcare through staff motivation: results from selected private hospitals in Ilorin, Nigeria
Gbadeyan, R.A., Raheem, U.A. and Abdullahi, A.A.

In most countries, private hospitals play significant roles as alternative health care providers to the government owned hospitals. There is a general problem in delivering quality health care services due to the inadequate management of resources in the health sector. The objective of this paper is to examine the determinants of staff motivation in private hospitals. Thirty private hospitals were selected as the sample out of the 58 facilities in operation during the period of study. An average of 15 staff were provided with a questionnaire in each of the selected hospitals; while a total of 446 out of 450 respondents completed and returned the questionnaire. The questionnaire instrument designed for the study was a structured and closed-ended answer type, with sections focussing on: factors for staff motivation, demographic characteristics of respondents; quality of health workers and their performance. The data was analysed using E Views software package. The result revealed that Promotion, Salary, Security and the Work itself are significant motivating factors for the health workers in the selected private hospitals. The paper recommends that the problem of health workers’ poor remuneration should be addressed in the private health sector. This is because de-motivated staff would not perform well in organisations. Health workers need to be given adequate financial and non-financial incentives in order for them to perform well

Keywords: Motivation; Private Hospitals; Quality, Expectancy Theory & Health Workers.