CapacityPlus Article on Innovative Retention Tool Published in International Hospital Federation Journal

The International Hospital Federation’s quarterly journal World Hospitals and Health Services published a CapacityPlus article, “Retaining hospital workers: A rapid methodology to determine incentive packages.” Authors are Wanda Jaskiewicz, Kate Tulenko, and Laura Wurts of lead partner IntraHealth International, Peter Rockers, a CapacityPlus consultant from the Harvard School of Public Health, and George Mgomella of associate partner African Population & Health Research Center.

The article is included in the journal’s special issue on human resources for health. It describes CapacityPlus’s work on an innovative retention survey tool that can be used to help keep health workers in the facilities where they are needed, and increase access to health care.

“USAID’s CapacityPlus project is designing a rapid retention survey tool using the discrete choice experiment, a powerful, quantitative method to determine the relative importance health workers place on different characteristics related to their choice of employment,” the authors write. “The user-friendly tool will allow HR managers to rapidly assess retention preferences to better pinpoint the bundle of incentives and interventions that would most cost-effectively motivate health workers to take up posts in underserved facilities. The results of the survey can be used locally to create evidence-based incentive packages or to advocate with policy-makers and other decision-makers regarding the most favorable national retention policies and strategies for implementation.”
                    
CapacityPlus has recently applied this tool in Uganda, in partnership with the Ministry of Health. The survey results will help the Ministry to design effective bundles of incentives and other retention interventions for health workers.

Image courtesy of World Hospitals and Health Services