The Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) held a five-and-a-half day training programme for its senior managers after Chief Executive Officer Michael Khan, along with the Quality Assurance team became concerned with some issues at the institution.
This was according to Lorna McPherson who facilitated the training programme and on Friday distributed certificates to the participants at the Resource Centre of the GPH.
Twenty-six of the hospital’s senior managers underwent the leadership and management training, held under the auspices of the PEPFAR-funded USAID- implemented Guyana HIV/AIDS Reduction and Prevention Project Phase II (GHARP II).
The training was aimed at enhancing the leadership and management skills of the senior functionaries who had to outline strategies for addressing specific challenges confronting the hospital such as staff absenteeism, punctuality and attitudes.
One of the four groups which participated, McPherson pointed out, recognised that there was a different pattern of absenteeism on the weekend than on week days. She said the group found that at weekend, staff who live outside the city would often report absent, owing to transportation issues and reflected that years ago the Ministry of Health provided big buses to transport staff to and from the hospital.
McPherson said the managers also looked at the leadership and management framework. “We took them through a process where we give them a systematic way of dealing with the problem… We looked at current situations at work and then they started to look at reasons why the current situation exists,” she said.
According to McPherson, key building tools were also examined and three which were focused on were understanding the practices of managers who lead, understanding the challenge model process by which problems can be solved and also a number of tools for team building.
Dr Navindranauth Rambaran, who participated in the training, considered the process to be “timely, stimulating and lots of fun.
“It took me away from usual hectic schedule and I found it quite engaging. This very important training comes at a juncture which attests to the GPH’s commitment to improve its operations through investments in its employees and its trust in their ability to take the institution to improved heights and ultimately to achieve its vision which is to make the hospital the best.
I think this training will do just that,” he told those in attendance before receiving his certificate. In a press release, it was explained that the interactive and practical training is an adapted version of the Leadership Develop-ment Programme (LDP) that has been delivered to more than 250 health workers across regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10 since 2005.
It was noted that the programme took participants through different processes which identified challenges and their root causes, identified stakeholders affected by the challenges and developed action plans for addressing them.
The training was said to allow participants to build strategic thinking and planning skills that are critical for resolving issues that arise in the course of their work.
This was the final LDP workshop conducted by GHARP II as the project will come to a close at the end of February 2013.
“The GHARP II team is heartened to have had the opportunity to provide this training to key management staff of Guyana’s largest referral health facility as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen human resources for health systems in Guyana,” the release added.
Meanwhile, it was stated on behalf of the GPH that the managers felt more empowered and motivated and also that they will apply the strategies to enhance the delivery of quality care to all clients.
