Managing Healthcare Professionals in Public Hospitals: A Study of District Headquarter Hospitals in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Managing ample and competent human resources in hospitals is one of the prime tasks at the
administrative level to ensure appropriate healthcare services. This study aimed to identify the
management competency of hospital administration to fulfill the needs of human resources at
public hospitals. A cross-sectional research design with structured questionnaire was used to
collect information regarding staff availability, training, salaries, and performance monitoring of
the healthcare personnel from Medical Superintendents (MS) of six District Headquarter (DHQ)
Hospitals of Punjab Province. The results revealed that although DHQ hospital are outfitted with
the required human resources such as doctors, nurses, paramedics, technicians, and all other
support staff, the number of these human resources is not sufficient. Findings also indicated that
hospitals continuously arrange on-job training and refresher courses to all types of staff including
doctors, nurses, paramedics, and helpers to upgrade health care professional's skills. It is
concluded that majority of the studied public hospitals are efficient and vigilant in managing
human resources within limited financial resources. It is recommended to improve the quality of
healthcare services by enhancing the professional competencies of healthcare providers.