Nursing and midwife staffing needs in maternity wards in Burkina Faso referral hospitals

Abstract

BackgroundIn 2006, Burkina Faso set up a policy to subsidize the cost of obstetric and neonatal emergency care. This policy has undoubtedly increased attendance at all levels of the health pyramid. The aim of this study was to measure the capacity of referral hospitals’ maternity services to cope with the demand for health services after the implementation of this policy.MethodsThis study was conducted in three referral health centres (CMAs, CHRs, and CHUs). The CHU Yalgado Ouédraogo (tertiary level) and the CMA in Sector 30 (primary level) were selected as health facilities in the capital, along with the Kaya CHR (secondary level). At each health facility, the study included official maternity ward staff only. We combined the two occupational categories (nurses and midwives) because they perform the same activities in these health facilities. We used the WISN method recommended by WHO to assess the availability of nurses and midwives.ResultsNurses and midwives represented 38% of staff at the University Hospital, 65% in the CHR and 80% in the CMA. The number of nurses and midwives needed for carrying out the activities in the maternity ward in the University Hospital and the CMA is greater than the current workforce, with WISN ratio of 0.68 and 0.79 respectively. In the CHR, the current workforce is greater than the number required (WISN ratio = 2).This medical centre is known for performing a high number curative and preventive activities compared to the Kaya CHR. Like the CHU, the delivery room is a very busy unit. This activity requires more time and more staff compared to other activities.ConclusionThis study showed a shortage of nurses and midwives in two health facilities in Ouagadougou, which confirms that there is considerable demand. At the Kaya CHR, there is currently enough staff to handle the workload in the maternity ward, which may indicate a need to expand the analysis to other health facilities to determine whether a redistribution of health human resources is warranted.

Estimating of the required midwife in maternity ward in hospital using Workload Indicator of Staffing Need Method

“…Working pressure on staff can affect the quality of patient care and the quality of communication with colleagues and can lead to job stress, burnout, and issues such as turnover and absenteeism. It is often stated that health staff in large cities are usually overestimated (15), but the findings of our study show that the central and educational hospitals in Mashhad that usually have acute patients are facing with workforce shortage.…”

“…Antarou Ly study aimed at determining the delivery care capacity of educational hospitals in Burkina Faso identified labor, delivery, cesarean and recovery after cesarean care as part of the activities of nurses and midwives working in the gynecology and maternity ward (15).…”

The Relative Influence of Generic Essential Drugs and Nursing Staff Supplies on Access to Primary Healthcare Services in Burkina Faso: A Trivariate Probit Modeling Approach

“…Health care production requires the use of health care resources such as health care professionals, therapeutic materials and clinics to provide an amount of health care of a given quality (Graf et al, 1996). A key observation in health economics is that health resources are known to be limited in quantity, with no known bounds on the desired quantity of health outputs (Ly et al, 2014). This issue, known as the problem of scarcity of resources means that choices must be made about what health goods are produced, how they are produced and for whom they are produced (Morris et al, 2007).…”

“…In fact, health services shortages can usually be linked to shortages in health services providers (typically health care workers such as Doctors and Nurses), while shortages of health goods such as tangible essential drugs and medicines, may not necessarily be linked to a shortage of goods providers (typically pharmacies and drugs manufacturing companies) but instead due to poor sourcing in the health care system. This means that problems of health services shortages can be resolved by resolving shortages of health care workers (Ly et al, 2014), while problems of health goods shortages can be resolved by resolving sourcing issues within the health care system (Ridde et al, 2005;Silve and Ouedraogo, 2013).…”

The Views of Health Workforce Managers on the Implementation of Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN) Method in Primary Healthcare Settings in South Africa

“…Musau supported this by reporting that the WISN required a dedicated team with adequate expertise to make the raw data meaningful for calculations (Musua et al, 2008). However, authors from different African regions did not support this finding (Burmen et al, 2017;Ly, Kouanda & Ridde, 2014;Namaganda et al, 2015) as according to them, WISN is easy to apply with minimum training. Additionally, there is a need for continuous technical support, as well as hands-on learning experiences, to allow PHC nurse managers to determine their staffing requirements using a bottom-up approach to HRH planning (Shipp, 1998;World Health Organization, 2016c).…”