Policy Brief: On National Policy Action toward Improved Hospital Management and Administration

The pilot hospitals, Korca and Lezha regional hospitals and Tirana Maternity Hospital #1, began implementing various interventions, including those supporting improved capabilities for managing hospital human resources. Lessons learned from the implementation of human resource management improvements suggest that public hospitals, with support from the Ministry of Health, can take quick and decisive steps to improve the management of their staff. The EEHR project focused on a set of priority human resource management capabilities, including staff job descriptions, employee performance evaluation, new employee orientation, staff planning, and training needs assessment. These interventions were successfully tested at the three pilot hospitals, and their human resource departments and working groups can serve as a resource for technical guidance, advice, and orientation for other hospitals. A national level group on human resources in healthcare established by the Ministry of Health will provide technical and policy direction to human resource development and management in the healthcare sector. Staff planning, training needs assessment, and new employee hiring are critical areas that require improvement in Albanian hospitals. The current planning process is limited and inconsistent, and hospitals lack experience with training needs assessments. New employee hiring processes also need strengthening to ensure that hospitals can hire the best available human resources. The EEHR project developed and delivered trainings and practical guides that built or strengthened hospital capabilities in these areas, resulting in positive outcomes for the staff and leadership of the pilot hospitals. The EEHR project also assisted the pilot hospitals in introducing new employee orientations, which provide multiple benefits, including familiarizing new employees with key operational aspects of the hospital. Employee orientation manuals were developed by groups of hospital employees and EEHR staff, and orientations are now mandatory for all new hires. Additionally, the EEHR project provided training and technical direction for creating job descriptions that are specific for individual hospital employees, which serve as a basis for holding employees accountable and are used for employee performance evaluations. The EEHR project's results suggest that individualized job descriptions should be made a part of each employee record and serve as a basis for employee performance evaluation. Hospitals should also develop new employee orientation manuals, conduct orientations for all existing employees, and offer the orientation to all new hires. Furthermore, introducing staff planning, training needs assessment, and new employee hiring policies and procedures using the pilot hospitals as a resource can improve the management of hospital staff.