Supervisory Activities among Managers in Selected Hospitals in Kalutara District

Introduction: Supervision is widely recognized as essential for improving health worker performance and achieving the quality health care.

 

Objective: To assess the supervisory activities of managers at different levels in selected hospitals in Kalutara district.

 

Methods: This study was a hospital based descriptive study conducted in the District General Hospital and Base Hospitals in Kalutara district. The total number of health care managers who are engaged in supervisory activities at different levels were included in this study. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Quantitative data was analyzed using Epi info and Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS).

 

Results: Out of the total 7 Upper Level Managers and 336 Middle Level Managers there were 100% participation by Upper Level Managers and 83% (n=279) of Middle Level Managers participated to the preliminary questionnaire. Only 71 of them (24.9%) were using some type of supervisory guideline or a supervisory tool to supervise their subordinates and even less number of them (n= 45, 15.7%) record their supervisory activities. The supervisory practices among managers were assessed using a self-assessment tool under eight sections the mean summed score of this section for Upper Level Managers was 90.8 and for Middle Level Managers was 71.8 out of 100. There was a significant distinction between the supervisory practices among managers and their managerial level.

 

Conclusion: Supervision is mandatory and key important managerial function that needs to be strengthen among managers in all levels of healthcare institutions. Upper Level Managers as well as Middle Level Managers were practicing their own methods to supervise their subordinates. This may be due to lack of a common guideline, lack of competency-based indicators or clear standards to assess individual health worker performance. The supervisory practices of performing supervisory activities were based on supervisors working experience. Supervisors need to understand the importance of keeping supervisory notes, records on their subordinates to be used at the time of assessing their performances to give annual salary increments and it is recommended to strengthen supervisory activities among supervisors in all levels of healthcare institutions.