American Academic Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences
Abstract
Organizations are known to provide a high quality health care when its human resources are compensated properly. When a health care institution compensates its clinical and non-clinical staff efficiently, it results into improved quality of healthcare. However, recent strikes globally, and in Kenya specifically, suggests inappropriate compensation management practices of the healthcare workers in the Country. It’s against this background that the study sought to investigate the effect of compensation management practices on the quality of healthcare at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu County, Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to establish the influence of; competitive salary, financial incentives and group bonuses; on the quality of healthcare at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) in Kisumu County, Kenya. The research was underpinned by the human capital, resource-based view; person fit environment theories, and the service performance model. The two populations of interest consisted of the permanent clinical and nursing staff and patient complaint data on responsiveness and reliability of clinicians and nurses, for the third quarter of the 2017/2018 financial year. The research was grounded on a principle of mixed methods pragmatism, exploiting the sequential explanatory mixed methods design. Phase one surveyed the opinions of a systematic random sample of 97 respondents from a target population of 130 permanent clinicians and nurses.Phase Two involved a content analysis of patient complaints data for an explanation of the quantitative relationships established in the quantitative strand of the study. During Phase One, summary statistics, that informed inferential and subsequent qualitative analysis, were presented using tables and charts. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the significance of the relationship amongst the log10 of predictor and log10 of the outcome variable. The log-log regression model shows that the compensation management practices explain 22.1% of the variance in the dependent variable. Hypothesis tests revealed that compensation management practices had statistically significant relationships with quality of health care. Qualitative data provided further evidence on the importance of compensation management practices in ensuring that the technical quality of healthcare was maintained. Most complaints derived from delay in test results, and waiting before the consultation. The shortage of clinicians and nurses were to blame for delays in serving patients. The study concludes that teaching and referral hospitals can improve the quality of healthcare by addressing challenges relating to compensation. Adoption of a strategic approach to compensation management could remedy HR deficiency and solve the problem of strikes in teaching and referral hospitals in Kenya and beyond
