Factors Influencing Turnover among Doctors At The Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the factors influencing turnover among doctors at the Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu. To achieve the objective of the study, the researcher interviewed respondents from each of the 10 major departments at the Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu. These included Administration, Clinical Heads of Departments in Internal Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Pathology, Radiology, Pharmacy, Dental, and Rehabilitation departments. Confirmatory interviews from the doctors in those departments were used as well. The collected data in the study was analyzed and interpreted in line with the objective of the study. The study majorly used primary data which was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using principal component factor analysis. Secondary data was also collected through analysis of documents and records on staff turnover statistics at the human resource unit in the Administration department. The factors affecting doctors‟ turnover were grouped into four main categories namely individual factors, job factors, organizational factors and environmental factors. The study established that the hospital had a turnover rate of 67% for doctors. Factors that contributed to this high turnover included low remuneration, lack of attractive benefits, lack of recognition, lack of training and development opportunities and lack of motivation and encouragement for good work. It was however established that the size of organization and location of organization do not influence turnover among doctors at The Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu. Exit interviews indicated that doctors left for the following reasons 38% better prospects, 10% because of termination of contracts, 10% for further studies and a further 10% for family reasons. The study therefore recommends that the Management should revise the remunerations of the doctors. The Medical Advisory Committee and the hospital‟s Management should set up work relations forums where the doctors can freely air their views about their work conditions. The Management also needs to formulate strategies to empower doctors and also create training and development opportunities for the doctors. The study suggests that future researchers should do the same study in other private health care institutions in other areas so as to compare the findings with those of this study. The same study should also be done in the public sector to establish the level of turnover in the public institutions so as to compare with the findings of this study. Future research studies should seek to establish the extent to which the factors leading to job turnover contributed to the turnover by the doctors and lastly the study recommends that a longitudinal study be conducted by future researchers to establish the trends of turnover of doctors and factors that influence them. This is because this study was done at one point in time but turnover occurs time after time.