An investigation into the causes of understaffing of registered nurses in mission hospitals: a case for Mashoko Mission Hospital

Abstract

The study presents an informative investigation on the understaffing of nurses in mission hospitals a case for Mashoko Mission hospital. The purpose of the study was to determine the cause, effects and solutions to understaffing of nurses. Literature review was done on global perspective, continental regional zeroing to Mashoko Mission hospital, where understaffing of nurses was discovered to be a chronic health personnel problem. The causes, and solutions proved to be different with continents and regions, but the effects are similar, mostly poor health service delivery. The researcher used qualitative research method. On the ground the researcher applied a case study research design to discover in-depth information on understaffing of nurses. The researcher used a purposive sampling of health personnel of 50 subjects, one human resource, 47 nurses, and 2 doctors at Mashoko Mission hospital. Data were collected from hospital statistical records. A questionnaire was used to collect information from participants for analysis. Data was presented using tables and figures. The findings revealed that understaffing was caused by poor working conditions, geographical location and bureaucratic leadership style to mention a few. The findings reflected a chronic health personnel understaffingand the recommendations from participants were that the government should improve working conditions for nurses, be transparent on deployment of nurses. Mashoko Mission hospital should also be flexible with its religious policies.