Assessing the predictors for training in management amongst hospital managers and chief executive officers: a cross-sectional study of hospitals in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

BackgroundThere is a compelling need for management training amongst hospital managers in Nigeria mostly because management was never a part of the curricula in medical schools and this has resulted in their deficiencies in effective policymaking, planning and bottom line management. There has been no study to the best of our knowledge on the need and likely factors that may influence the acquisition of such training by hospital managers and this in effect was the reason for this study.MethodsData for this study came from a cross-sectional survey distributed amongst management staff in twenty five (25) hospitals that were purposively selected. One hundred and twenty five (125) questionnaires were distributed, out of which one hundred and four (104) were answered and returned giving a response rate of 83.2%. Descriptive and Inferential statistics were used to summarize the results. Decisions were made at 5% level of significance. A binary logistic regression was performed on the data to predict the logit of being formally and informally trained in health management. These statistical techniques were done using the IBM SPSS version 20.ResultsThe result revealed a high level of formal and informal trainings amongst the respondent managers. In formal management training, only few had no training (27.9%) while in informal management training, all had obtained a form of training of which in-service training predominates (84.6%). Most of the administrators/managers also had the intention of attending healthcare management programme within the next five years (62.5%). Socio-demographically, age (p = .032) and academic qualification (p < .001) had significant influence on training. Number of hospital beds (p < .001) and number of staff (p < .001) including managers’ current designation (p < .001) also had significant influence on training.ConclusionOur work did establish the critical need for both formal and informal trainings in health management for health care managers. Emphasis on training should be directed at younger managers who are the least likely to acquire such trainings, the smaller and private hospitals who are less likely to encourage such trainings amongst their staff and the least educated amongst health managers.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-018-1230-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Hospital managers' skills required and onward challenges: A qualitative study

“…Creating and developing a strategic mindset is one of the requirements of the field of management, and this type of mindset is necessary and critical for all the organizational levels, particularly for the senior management. [ 34 ] Hospitals as the most important and most complex organizations providing health care require systemic and systematic mindsets more than any other organization. The systemic mindset is a conceptual framework for solving problems, which occurs through focusing on problems and during the execution.…”

“…also stated that the lack of time and resources is a challenge for managers. [ 21 34 ] A number lower than the standard threshold determined by the Ministry of Health for the human resources in hospitals has been reported in many studies. [ 44 ] The results obtained from studies, Mehrolhasani and Farzianpour et al .…”

Recognition of factors affecting the use of volunteer clinical forces in hospitals in Tehran

“…Based on the experiences of the participants in the present study, the viewpoints of the graduates in Management major was more open and susceptible to attract participation, rather than the physicians passing just some educational courses. [ 39 40 41 ]…”

Competencies and Development Needs of Physician Managers in Nigeria: A Case Study of selected hospitals in Ibadan City, Oyo State

“…Perceived ability to perform in management was generally positive and the author argued that this was not reflective in the Nigerian health situation with poor health indices. Ochonma and Nwatu's (2018) study to assess predictors for management training among hospital managers and chief executive officers in Abuja, Nigeria also had hospital chief executives (C.E.Os) as study participants. It was not clearly stated if these participants were all physicians.…”