An assessment of the staffing challenges faced by eThekwini district healthcare workers during the Coronavirus pandemic period.

Abstract

Staffing is one of the important managerial functions in an organisation, and the other managerial functions revolve around staffing, especially in the healthcare sector. Staffing involves human capital management and knowledge management, and it is not merely recruiting, performance appraisal, promotion, and inter-departmental transfers. The disruptions that the coronavirus pandemic brought were not limited to the national governments, but also at the provincial, local, and regional levels of government were affected. This study assessed the staffing challenges faced by the eThekwini district healthcare workers in South Africa during the coronavirus pandemic period and the study objectives were, to make an assessment on the level of coronavirus pandemic related staffing challenges, to make an assessment on management’s response to coronavirus pandemic related staffing challenges in the eThekwini district health system, and to determine the extent to which healthcare workers were affected by coronavirus pandemic in the eThekwini district. The study aimed to assess the staffing challenges that the eThekwini healthcare personnel faced and the eThekwini health district managers’ response these challenges during the initial and latter waves of Covid-19 infections in South Africa. The researcher used qualitative descriptive phenomenal study design, and the nonprobability purposive sampling was done on the study population of twenty healthcare workers and healthcare managers at Osindisweni hospital, Prince Mshiyeni Memorial hospital, and Inkosi Albert Luthuli hospital. Data collection was obtained through interviews, and triangulation was done using different technologies in data collection. The challenges that the eThekwini district healthcare workers experienced were not limited to the coronavirus infections complications such as covid pneumonia and death, but also psychological sequelae and burnout. The study showed the coronavirus pandemic impacted human capital and human capital management due to staff shortages, affecting healthcare services delivery. The study indicated that there was healthcare workers neglect and lack of support from the higher echelon’s structures. The study showed the crisis leadership gap, the need for the government to invest in leadership training, bolster human capital management skills and adequate employee assistance programmes. More research on the coronavirus vaccine effectiveness is needed.