QMU Student Id: 12009307-NM-252

PG Certificate Human Resource in Health (HRH), Queen Margaret University , Edinburgh.

FRIDAY, April 04, 2014 Workload Indicators of Staffing Needs (WISN) of P.G. Doctors working in Out Patient Section Pediatrics Department Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi.

INTRODUCTIN

The department of pediatrics is a 89 Beds unit. The department runs its own indoor and outdoor clinic. Besides It is also equipped with separate pediatric and neonatal Intensive care units. The number of doctors serving this department is 23 with following details; one Professor , Associate Prof ,Assistant Prof; & Consultant Pediatrician each. In addition 16 Post graduate Trainees in higher studies for Pediatrics along with 6 Medical Officers & 13 House officers also work with great zeal & zest to serve the ailed General Public.

METHODS

Only 3 P.G Trainee Doctors are deployed at OPD. A cross sectional study was conducted to see the Postgraduate doctors at OPD of Benazir Bhutto Hospital as the highest priority and WISN human resource management tool was used to determine the workload pressure and health workforce required to cope with the heavy requirements of the health needs of the children patients. Meetings were held with the Head of OPD, and the expert group from another teaching hospital in the town was identified who defined the main workload components and set activities standards.

RESULTS

The P.G Trainee doctors at OPD of Pediatrics Department of Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi work for 244 days in a year and six days a week. The staff avail 52 Sundays while 69 days of leave of different nature i.e. public, casual, annual and other leaves. The total working hours in a year was calculated 1366 hours. After applying WISN technique, it was found that the present doctors are highly overloaded with work & the staff (Postgraduate Trainee Doctors) do face three times shortage as calculated on the basis of WISN.

CONCLUSION By comparing the difference between the current and required staffing level, it was found that the P.G Trainee Doctors are three times short to cope up their workload. The workload pressure calculated was 68 percent positive.

DISCUSSION/LIMITATIONS

As the workload was calculated on the basis of unit time provided by the expert group based on their own experience and only one hospital was contacted for this activity; a bias could not be ruled out. Another issue in this regard was the workload difference in both the hospitals. Shortage in the health work force also put an impact on the unit time given by expert group.

There is a difference in the activities performed, too at both hospitals individually. So it had also an issue in calculating & even enumerating the workload components. So the unit time for such activities was developed on the unit time given by the doctors of the same hospital; who had worked there earlier or currently working in the In-patient department of Pediatrics section.

Another way to tackle this issue was the direct observational calculation of unit time in this very hospital , but could not be done because of the time & resources constraint.

References

1. WISN User’s manual (WHO, 2010)

2. Annual Statistics Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi.