Productivity of family planning physicians and nurses at primary health care centers in Egypt

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted in 51 primary health care units in rural and urban areas in 3 governorates of Egypt in order to describe and measure the pattern of physician's and nurse's productivity in relation to family planning services. The cross-sectional analytic research design was chosen to study the current research issue. The multi-stage random sample technique was utilized to recruit a representative samples of governorates, health units, physicians, and nurses. The data were collected and analyzed at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels. The direct observation technique was employed to assess the performance of human resources at the studied units. The results showed that the mean Actual Annual Working Hours [AAWHs], in relation to the Egyptian standard of work, of physicians and nurses was 55.44 +/- 17.17% and 60.03 +/- 17.26%, respectively. The study concluded that low and varied productivity of human resources at primary health care units is an urgent problem that deserves special attention from the health decision makers. This necessitates the design of a well structured productivity improvement program for primary health care units in Egypt