Role of career development on performance of medical officers in County Governments: a case study of Murang’a County

Abstract

The human resource crisis in the health sector in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is receiving increased global attention. African public health care systems suffer from significant “brain drain” of its health care professionals and knowledge as health workers migrate to wealthier countries. The “push” factors include a lack of better working conditions including promotion opportunities and career advancement. Following devolution of Health and Human Resource Management (HRM) to the County Governments, as per the new 2010 Kenya Constitution, the human resource crisis has become more evident. Policymakers and planners are realizing that it is simply not possible to achieve health development goals if health workers’ availability and performance are not addressed more effectively. This study sought to determine the role of career development on performance of medical officers and to improve their performance through effective and practical HRM interventions. The study was conducted in the main Sub County Hospitals and the County Referral Hospital in Murang’a County. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS (version 23). Basic descriptive statistics was done. The data was then analyzed through percentages, frequencies, mean and standard deviation and the findings presented in tables, graphs and narratives.The various aspects of career development explored in this study (career planning, career coaching, career mentoring, and empowerment) were generally found to be important to the participants in relation to their work decisions and job stability with empowerment being moderately practiced. However, these career development aspects did not significantly influence the performance of the medical officers as per the 2016-2017 Performance Appraisal results in Murang’a County.