Workload of Disease Control (Prevention) Section in Health Care Centers: Application of Work and Time Study Model



Alinejad R¹ ; Yousefi M² ; Ebrahimipour H² ; Taghipour A³ ; Mohammadi A⁴
Source: Journal of Payavard Salamat Published:2020

Abstract

Background and Aim: The efficiency and effectiveness of any organization depend greatly on proper and effective management and use of human resources. Due to the importance of activities and the motivation of personnel fighting against diseases, as well as the high share of personnel costs in total health expenditures, the use of appropriate methods to determine their workload is important. Materials and Methods: The present research is a descriptive and applied study, conducted in two quantitative and qualitative dimensions. The research environment was the urban-rural health centers of Savadkuh health network. During the process of calculating the workload, the steps were: identifying activities, correcting and approving activities, determining the percentage of acceptable unemployment, calculating standard time, determining the number of repetitions, calculating work units, determining the workload, and determining the required manpower. Results: Activities in the field of fighting against diseases were identified and organized in the form of 77 activities. By taking the frequency of each activity into account, the total time of these activities in one month was equal to 10273 work units. The main activities related to vaccine injection and registration of vaccinated specifications in relevant offices and forms included 137 and 115 work units, respectively. Conclusion: Determining the workload of different health care fields by using this study method creates the potential to estimate the number of manpower required to give all predicted services, and has the potential to reduce the demand for surplus labor and increase employees’ tendency to give more services, if used in current structures. © 2020, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.