Health Worker Motivation Essay

Introduction

Quality improvement in healthcare has become a priority in many countries. Resource limited countries in particular have in the in the recent years focussed their attention on human resources required to deliver healthcare in an effort to achieve targets for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). More emphasis is now being placed on health worker performance and motivation (Chen et al., 2004). Quality of care embraces the utilization of essential resources to provide health, including essential drugs and equipment and health workforce, as well as patient involvement. Access to health to services and quality of healthcare is solely dependent on the health workforce and therefore their performance and productivity in healthcare provision is of utmost importance (Dieleman et al., 2006). Health worker motivation entails the intrinsic drive within the health professional to provide health services in an effort to achieve the organizational goals (Franco et al., 2002).

Resource limited countries including sub-Saharan Africa are making significant progress towards achieving universal access to quality healthcare, this has resulted to improving the health outcomes. However, the challenges

Emphasis should be placed on developing adept and motivated health workers in order to overcome the challenges for achieving national and global health goals. As part of efforts towards achieving the health related MDGs by 2015, more comprehensive staff motivation interventions should be integrated into quality improvement strategies in the health system. Suitable interventions necessary for health professionals’ motivation should be adapted according to the context, they should rely on the understanding of the range of factors that influence staff motivation and their ultimate performance in their specific