What is a motivated health worker?

Human resources are vital to an effective health care system [1]. From an economics
viewpoint, health workers’ salaries make up a great share of health budgets in most
countries [1]. The health worker is the gatekeeper of the health system.

In the workplace, motivation can be defined as an “individual's degree of willingness to

exert and maintain an effort towards organizational goals”[2]. Motivation is closely linked
to job satisfaction, which retains workers at their jobs over time [3]. Health worker
retention reduces costs to the health system of having to recruit, hire, and orient new
workers and also reduces the likelihood of vacant posts [4]. As many countries currently
experience a shortage of qualified health workers [5], the loss of any health worker—
especially doctors and nurses—has serious ramifications for the health of people in that
country [6]. Keeping health workers satisfied and motivated helps the entire health system
work smoothly [2].

HRH Info

Please see more HRH Info articles here.

Why is Teamwork in Healthcare Important?

Poorly motivated health workers can have a negative impact on individual facilities and an
entire health system [7]. Unmotivated health workers greatly impact rural areas. Often it’s
these health workers who work longer hours, whose workplaces have fewer resources than
urban health centers, and where they can feel most isolated [8]. Unmotivated health
workers are known to leave their jobs, either leaving rural and remote areas for work in
larger cities, or migrating to other countries in the pursuit of more appealing job
opportunities [7]. Some disgruntled health workers have been known to leave the medical
field outright [9].

What motivates health workers?

Motivation is influenced by a complex set of social, professional and economic factors [10].
There are many reasons health workers remain motivated and decide to stay at their jobs.

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Generally, a health worker will be motivated and express job satisfaction if they feel that
they are effective at their jobs and performing well. Factors contributing to motivation and
job satisfaction also include strong career development, an adequate compensation, and
adequate working and living conditions [10]. Having strong human resources mechanisms
in place within a health system can help to ensure that the right motivational factors are in
place at adequate levels to keep health workers satisfied.

Maintaining a positive relationship with coworkers can increase motivation. In a study in

Ethiopia, nurses experienced more job satisfaction if they felt they had greater autonomy to
make their own decisions regards to patient needs [9].

However, inversely, problems with career development, salary and working/living

conditions are also reasons health workers become unmotivated. Any of these issues—or a
combination of them—can lead to health worker dissatisfaction.

Career development is generally defined as the possibility to specialize in a specific field or

be promoted through the ranks of health workers [12]. Doctors and health workers
laboring in rural settings commonly cite limited career development opportunities as a
demotivating factor [13]. A study of South African doctors working in rural areas found
that many complained about being unable to connect to online training courses to learn a
specialty [13]. A lack of promotion opportunities is another problem. Nurses in Tanzania
reported working for as many as ten years without a promotion [14]. This has led to bad
feelings, where the researchers point out that simple communication—such as staff
appraisals and transparent promotion procedures—could lead to better morale [14].

Having limited continuing professional development opportunities—or proper training

during preservice education or on the job—is another major theme among discontented
health workers [12]. In understaffed clinics and hospitals in Tanzania, health workers are
often asked to perform tasks beyond their scope of practice, but without adequate training.
This can lead to frustration and demotivation [14]. This also creates concerns about the
quality of health services provided.

Inadequate and outdated medical resources and supplies at clinics and hospitals can also
contribute to health workers’ frustration on the job, and eventual attrition. Health workers

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argue that a dearth of adequate resources prohibits them from doing their jobs [12].
Doctors in South Africa reported they left their employment at rural clinics due to a lack of
appropriate facilities, materials, and medical equipment [13].

Another issue is maintaining a positive relationship with management [12]. In some cases,
vacant positions are left unfilled for long periods of time, increasing workloads for
remaining health workers [13]. Health workers, often in rural areas, complain of a lack of
supervision (or irregular supervision) from their managers or supervisors [14]. Staff
feedback is especially problematic. Health workers complained to Manongi et al. [14] that
the only feedback they received from supervisors was negative in nature.

Complaints about salaries is another issue. Health workers in Uganda complained to

researchers that they do not earn enough salary compared to other civil servants of
equitable professions [15]. In Bangladesh, health workers complained that they aren’t paid
on time by the government, which is sometimes six months behind in salary dispersal [15].

TITLE

Determinants of Work-related injuries among Medical Laboratory Scientist at three hospitals in

Cape Coast.

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The work of the medical laboratory scientists exposes him to a lot of injuries and health risks. In
times past, employers were not concerned with the health and safety of their employees at work.
An employee was not provided with safety and health equipment and he risked getting hurt at
work.

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Currently, the International Labor Organization has made some recommendations which
provides that “occupational health services should be established in or near a place of
employment for the purpose of protecting the workers against any health hazards arising out of
work or conditions in which it is carried on. The recommendations also contribute towards
workers physical and mental adjustment thereby contributing to the establishment and
maintenance of the highest possible degree of physical and mental well-being of the workers.

Work related injuries are those aspects of the work environment that have the potential of
immediate and sometimes violent harm to an employee; for example infections from patients
sample, sprains, brushes, bruises, broken bones, burns and electric shock. But this study focuses
more on the medical laboratory scientists and factors that will lead to these injuries.

In most facilities, occupational accidents may arise from three dimensions: the task to be done,
for instance malfunctioning equipment, lack of protective equipment and poor working
conditions which arise from inadequate lighting, fatigue that comes out of excessive working
hours.

The Labor Act 2003, Act 651 of the Republic of Ghana, section 118(I) states that “it is the duty
of an employer to ensure that every worker employed by him/her works under satisfactory, safe
and healthy conditions.

Typical health hazards to health professionals in their quest to provide healthcare services
include toxic and carcinogenic chemicals and dust, often in combination with noise, heat and
other forms of stress. Other health hazards include physical and biological agents. The
interaction of health hazards and the human organisms can occur either through the senses, by
absorption through the skin, by intake into the digestive tract via the mouth or by inhalation into
the lungs. Stress management and provision of appropriate machinery for work must be met to
prevent work related injuries among health professional’s especially medical laboratory
scientists.

1.2 CONTEXUAL FRAMEWORK

 Accident and injury causation model
 Human factor theory
 Behavioral theory
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  Incident theory

1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Scientists may have a false sense of security about the safety of their laboratories, according to
early results from the first international survey of researchers’ workplace attitudes and practices.
Some 86% of the roughly 2,400 scientists who responded said that they believe their labs are
safe places to work. Yet just under half had experienced injuries ranging from animal bites to
chemical inhalation, and large fractions noted frequent lone working, unreported injuries and
insufficient safety training on specific hazards (see ‘A question of safety’). “Understanding this
disparity will be a key to positively changing safety culture,” says James Gibson, head of
environmental health and safety at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The
university’s Center for Laboratory Safety, a research initiative set up in March 2011,
commissioned the study as part of a wave of US-led efforts to examine safety culture following
the shocking death of a 23-year-old research assistant, Sheharbano Sangji. She received horrific
burns in a UCLA lab fire four years ago (see Nature http:// doi.org/dnws3n; 2009), and her
supervisor, organic chemist Patrick Harran, may face a criminal trial over her death. Other
incidents, including a second lab death, at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, in 2011
(see Nature 472, 270–271; 2011), have added to the concerns. The study “is the most
comprehensive attempt at gathering data on attitudes to safety that I’ve seen — and one more
piece of information in a growing body of reports that point to the need to improve the culture
around safety in our academic laboratories,” says Dorothy Zolandz, director of the US National
Academies Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology. Nature Publishing Group, the
publisher of Nature, helped to launch the survey, as did the firm BioRAFT, which provides
software for safety compliance and receives investment from Digital Science, a sister company
to Nature Publishing Group. UCLA’s Center for Laboratory Safety plans to analyse the data
more closely later this year, but shared early results with Nature. PART AND PARCEL Some of
the anonymized survey participants — who were mostly from the United States and United
Kingdom, but also hailed from Europe, China and Japan — felt that any injuries they sustained
were just part of the job. “Was scratched by a monkey,” one scientist wrote. “It’s bound to
happen in that line of work, no matter how careful you are.” Another was bitten while extracting

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venom from rattlesnakes; a third reported being sprayed on the face and hands with sulphuric
acid, leading to US$3,000 of dermatology treatments. The most common injuries were
minor — cuts, lacerations and needle pricks — but 30% of respondents said they had witnessed
at least one ‘major’ lab injury, something that required attention from a medical professional.
More than one-quarter of junior researchers said that they had experienced an injury that they
hadn’t reported to their supervisor. Yet the overwhelming majority of respondents asserted that
their labs were safe places to work, that they had received sufficient safety training to minimize
injury and that appropriate safety measures had been taken to protect employees. This level of
comfort is similar to that found in other, smaller surveys, says Ralph Stuart, secretary of the
American Chemical Society’s health and safety division (which has conducted its own surveys
on the matter). But more specific questions in the survey reveal that safety standards are often
not adhered to. Only 60% said they had received safety training on specific hazards or agents

There is no doubt that the human resource that an organization has is one of its versatile
resources. Therefore, an effective and efficient use of the human resource will translate into the
overall effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. Though many organizations accept this
to be true, they fail to realize that as part of their human resource management practices, there is
the need for management to ensure that personnel in the organization work in safe and healthy
environment that will promote their optimum utilization. It should be emphasized that injuries
are costly both to the affected worker and the organization. Therefore, every effort should be
made by management and employees in order to avoid them from happening at the work place.
As a hospital the employees are exposed to varied kinds of hazards. Therefore, failure to institute
adequate health and safety measures in place by management to protect employees from these
hazards and risks will lead to avoidable deaths and ultimately lead to loss of staff. Inadequate
training on acceptance and compliance to safety and health measures also hinder it effectiveness.
In fact, safety and health in the hospital especially laboratory have to be everybody’s concern.
On the contrary, this is not the case in most hospitals. There is lack of cooperation between
management and employees in making health and safety issues effective.

Failure to identify these hazards and understanding their implications on the personal lives of all
staff in the hospital laboratory will be detrimental. Also, ensuring that regular monitoring and
review of these measures are important to examine their effectiveness. Nonexistence of these

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measures hinders job performance and the employee suffers the ultimate consequence leading to
stress unhappiness and injuries.

Medical laboratory scientist’s attitudes play a significant part in health and safety and go a long
way to affect patients. Most medical laboratory scientists are not committed to the idea of safety
and fail to cooperate with safety initiatives, hence making safety measures become ineffective.
This is mostly seen in older stuffs who consider themselves to be more experienced to adhere to
simple safety precautions.

Indeed, any safety measure or action on the part of government or employer may prove futile if
the employees (MEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENTISTS) are not committed to the idea of
safety. Employers also fail to see occupational health and safety as a process. It is not enough to
institute safety measures and fail to provide adequate training, education and machinery on these
measures and rules.

In essence, conscious effort by management to put in place safety measures and ensure that these
rules are adhered to compels employees as well to be safety conscious at all times. A wider view
of occupational safety and health is necessary for management of the hospital to formulate
correct policies in regard to industrial safety which is commensurate with international standards,
compatible with national policies and at the same time, meet the organizational objectives of
providing quality health care and personal satisfaction to prevent injuries to medical laboratory
scientists.

It is in line with this that this research seeks to determine and assess work related injuries among
medical laboratory scientist and also what leads to these injuries at The University of Cape
Coast Hospital ,Ankarful Psychiatry hospital and Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study aimed at finding out the following:

 To determine the procedures ensured by the hospital administration towards health

precaution and management among medical laboratory scientists.

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 • To assess and characterize self-reported levels of compliance with universal precautions
among medical laboratory scientists and to determine correlates of compliance.

• To assess occupational and personal stress among medical laboratory scientists in the
three hospitals and how it affect working procedures and results.

• To determine which units of the laboratory and the laboratory procedures which medical
laboratory scientists are more prone to work-related injuries.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

a. What are the indications that the hospital administrators and supervisors are really concern
about health and safety?

b. is stress and workload a factor to work related injuries in the laboratory?

c. Is the hospital laboratory working with current and effective working machinery which can
help promote health of workers and prevent work related injuries ?

d. What happens if medical laboratory staff fails to comply with occupational health and safety
rules in the hospital?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study would provide bases for the formulation of effective occupational health and safety
policies in the three hospital laboratories. The piece of work will also provide bases for assessing
injuries among medical laboratory stuffs and also which aspect of the laboratory is more prone to
injuries so as to provide adequate precautions. It will also provide bases for other health
institutions in Ghana to adopt the recommendations in the formation of effective health and
safety measures in their laboratories.

1.6 METHODOLOGY

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Setting

The research work will be conducted at the Ankarful Psychiatric Hospital, University Of Cape
Coast Hospital and The Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. All these hospitals are located in the
Cape Coast metropolis. The choice of these hospitals was based on their standards i.e. Ankarful
Psychiatric is a specialist hospital, CCTH is a teaching hospital and UCCH is a university
hospital.

Target population

Due to time and financial constraints data shall be drawn from fifteen (15) staffs from each
selected hospital for the research work. The method employed for selection will be a simple
random sample since the working population is more than 15. The basic concept underlying this
method of sampling is that the elements or the individuals in the population are judged to be
homogenous.

Research design

The research is a descriptive research. It will make use of both qualitative and quantitative tools
in analyzing the data gathered through questionnaire, interview etc. Data will be drawn from two
sources; primary sources and Secondary sources. Primary sources will include data to be
collected through questionnaires, interviews and personal observations. Interviews will be
conducted with respondents in the sampled departments to acquire data for the research work.
The sources of secondary data include data drawn from books, files, journals, magazines,
internet and website.

Data analysis plan

The analysis of the data collected will be done at the end of the data collection. The responses
will be classified and summarized on the basis of the information provided by the respondents.
The analysis will be done using both qualitative and quantitative tools. With the quantitative
tools, the current version of Statistical Product and Services Solution (SPSS) data analysis
programme, Microsoft excel, absolute figures, tables, percentages, and statistical tools such as

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graphs, charts, maps, diagrams will be used, whereas qualitative will make use of descriptions,
analysis of feedback from interview.

Data handling

All data will be entered into Microsoft excel spread sheet.data and records of interview would be
handled confidentially.unique identifies would be used for computer based data entry.researchers
will ensure that identification code list will be kept safe and confidential.

1.7 ETHICAL ISSUES

Ethical clearance will be sorted from University of Cape Coast

1.8 TIME FRAME FOR THE STUDY

Novembe Decembe Januar Februar Marc Apri

r r y y h l

Research

Planning

Literatur
e

Review

Method

Validatio
n Test

Sample

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 Collectio
n

Sample

Digestion

AAS

Analysis

Report

Writing

1.9 REFERENCE

Boyd,C.(2003).Human Resource Management and Occupational Health and Safety, London:

Routledge

Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.(2008) 3rded, Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Cascio, W.F.(1986).Managing Human Resources Productivity,Quality of Life,Profit:New York:

MC Graw-Hill

Cole,G.A.(2002).Personnel and Human Resource Management, London: Thompson Learning

Bedford Row,

David A.D and Stephen P.R.(1999):Human Resource Management,Concepts and

Application,USA:Rogressive International Technologies

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Dessler,G.(2001) 7th ed.Human Resource Management,New Delhi:Prentice –Hall of India
Private Ltd

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