ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE OF NURSES IN TAMALE TEACHING HOSPITAL

ABSTRACT 

How an organisation achieves its stated goals largely depends on the quality of its human resources as well as the conditions of work. The quality of the employees and the extent of their motivation, greatly contribute to ensuring the successful attainment of organisation‟s set goals. In our world today, many organisations have designed strategies aimed at ensuring that their employees work within the most conducive environments. Fair Wages Commission of Ghana opines that productivity in the private sector, over the years, is higher than that of the public sector. Government of Ghana, in her attempt at resolving this situation, introduced the Single Spine Salary Structure other wise known as Single Spine Pay Policy to improve salaries of public servants.  Tamale is the focus of this study. Owing to the socio-economic situation of the area, it is difficult for the area to retain quality work force. Health care facilities in Tamale suffered badly from the exodus of professionals to the southern part of the country or abroad. Against this backdrop, the researcher sought to assess the quality work life of nurses at Tamale Teaching Hospital in order to understand the various job factors that motivate nurses to reach optimum performance.  The study was designed to achieve the following objectives:  It was designed to investigate the extrinsic job factors of nurses; It was also designed to assess the intrinsic job factors of nurses; Again, it was designed to investigate the social job factors of nurses and lastly it was designed to investigate the organisational climate work factors of nurses. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The simple sample random method was used to draw a representative sample size of one hundred and fifteen (115), representing twenty (20) percent of the nurses‟ population. Questionnaire was the main data collection tool which consisted of twenty (20) questions. The study revealed that the majority (57.39%) of the nurses at Tamale Teaching Hospital were not satisfied with their salaries. The study again revealed that promotion prospects among nurses were low. Again, the study found that the majority (62.61%) of the nurses could not depend on their supervisors for direction and guidance. Also, the study established that nurses in Tamale Teaching Hospital did not enjoy a sense of autonomy insofar as their jobs were concerned while employee development among the nurses was very rare. An overwhelming majority (68.70%) of the nurses felt recognised by their superiors for their contributions to the operations of the hospital. It was established in the study also that friendship opportunities, open to nurses was very high. Other findings of the study included the finding that social support from group members of the hospital was high. It also included in the findings that, leadership style practiced at Tamale Teaching Hospital by superiors, was not appreciated by the majority (58.25%) of the nurses. The nurses were satisfied with the physical environment of the hospital and communication flow from superiors to subordinates, in Tamale Teaching Hospital, was encouraging. Evidence from the study indicated that whereas the nurses expressed satisfaction in some of the variables that affect their quality work life, they equally expressed dissatisfaction in some of the variables under study.  The study recommended that promotion avenues should be created for nurses. It is recommended in the study that appropriate courses should be designed for supervisors in hospitals so that they can learn the skill of relating effectively with their subordinates. The study also recommended that management of hospitals should give reasonable autonomy to nurses who work under them while hospital management should ensure constant and regular development of skills of nurses in their hospitals and lastly, leaders in hospitals should adopt leadership styles that are employee centred.