I therefore express my sincere appreciation to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Lesotho and all the health care providers who participated in focus group discussions and in-depth interviews during the data collection and provided their views on this study. This has a direct impact on healthcare providers as they are the first point of contact for sick people. This study seeks to explore the impact of HIV and AIDS on healthcare provision by looking at the perception of healthcare providers.
Two focus group discussions were conducted and ten in-depth interviews were conducted in three healthcare facilities in Lesotho. The results showed that the workload increased due to the increased number of people seeking health care services. The study further indicated that there is a lack of knowledge among healthcare providers regarding the management of HIV and AIDS.
In addition, the results showed that poor infrastructure in institutions hinders health service providers from performing their duties effectively.
Introduction
- Background
- Aim of the Study
- Theoretical Framework
- Organization of the dissertation
Lesotho is one of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa that has a high prevalence of HIV and AIDS. The primary motive of the study is to investigate the impact of HIV and AIDS on health providers in Lesotho. The aim of this study is to investigate the multiple impacts of the HIV and AIDS epidemic on healthcare providers in Lesotho.
The healthcare providers at QE II, Senkatane AIDS Clinic and Baylor-Briston-Myers Squibb Children's Clinic will be interviewed about their perspectives of the impact of HIV and AIDS on their work. The incidence of HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is still high compared to other parts of the world. There is no existing standard theoretical framework dealing with the impact of HIV and AIDS on health workers.
Their hypothesis was that "staff would be discouraged from working due to low morale and stress, which is affected by HIV/AIDS and general working conditions" (Dieleman et al., 2007b:2).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Healthcare providers work long hours due to the increased number of patients they serve. Many of the healthcare providers feel that they are at risk of becoming infected with theirs. Some of the health care providers felt that they did not have the skills to care for people living with HIV and AIDS.
There is a lack of knowledge among healthcare professionals about the care of patients with HIV and AIDS. Healthcare workers who care for patients with HIV and AIDS are under a lot of stress. Overall, many healthcare providers reported that they no longer enjoyed working in the healthcare sector.
Some health workers have not even attended short courses dealing with HIV and AIDS.
FACTORS IMPACTING ON HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS …
- Workload
- Fear of contracting HIV at workplace
- Stress
- Morbidity and Mortality …
- Stigma and Discrimination
- Factors impacting other parts of the world
- Summary
METHODOLOGY
- Introduction
- Context of the study
- Research Methodology
- Qualitative Interviews…
- Focus Group Discussion
- In-depth Interview …
- Thematic Analysis
- Triangulation
- Ethical Consideration
- Limitations of the Study
This section will also discuss the methods used to analyze the ethical considerations of the data as well as the limitations of the study. Health care providers at the QE II clinic, the Senkatane AIDS clinic, and the Baylor-Briston-Myers Squibb Children's clinic were interviewed about their views on the impact of HIV and AIDS on their work. Given the nature of the research, quantitative methods alone would not be useful for better understanding healthcare providers' perceptions of the impact of HIV and AIDS on care.
In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were held with healthcare providers. Punch (2005) suggests that the interview is one of the most important ways of collecting data in qualitative research. In this study, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted with healthcare providers.
This type of data collection is one of the few research tools available for collecting data from people with small children or those who cannot read and write (Krueger and Casey, 2000). Data collected through focus group discussions is obtained faster and it is one of the cheaper methods than conducting individual interviews. Sometimes people do not want to be part of the discussion and it can be difficult for the researcher to gather them.
Most interviews were conducted in Sesotho as this is the local language for the healthcare provider, except in cases where the respondent is not a Sesotho-speaking person. Ethical approval for this study was sought from the University of KwaZulu Natal Ethics Committee. Due to the sensitivity of the subject; HIV and AIDS participants were assured of the confidentiality of the information they provided and also that the analysis of the information would not be linked to anyone.
Informed consent forms were issued to all participants that briefly outlined the objectives of the study. The respondents were made aware that participation was voluntary and if they could come to the point that they did not want to answer any of the questions, they had the right to stop the interview.
RESULTS
Introduction
Sample characteristics
Some health care providers reported that they had previously worked in health facilities in rural areas and had now moved to the urban area where the demand for health care services is extremely high. As a way of obtaining different information from the participants, the researcher probed deeper to find out the views of those who had experience working in rural and urban areas. Therefore, the analysis shows that most of the participants in the in-depth interviews had at least one year of work experience in the health institution.
The second column of table 4.1 shows the characteristics of the participants from the focus group discussions. The youngest participant in the focus group discussions was 30 years old, while the oldest was 52 years old. Most health care providers have 10 or more years of experience working in the field.
Study findings
- Perception of risk of HIV infection
- Lack of knowledge about caring for HIV and AIDS patients
- Stigma and Discrimination
- Stress and Burnout
- Poor physical infrastructure
- Shortage of Staff
- Workload
- Provider-Client inter-relationship
- Lack of support structures
- Recommendation
- Summary
Health care providers do not think that post-exposure prophylaxis protects them from HIV infection. In some facilities, HIV and AIDS training was not available to all health workers working in the facility. Not all health care providers have received training on how to deal with AIDS patients.
They will even think that the health care providers who are HIV positive will infect them” (Registered Nurse # 4). Some of the healthcare providers come from rural areas where knowledge about HIV is still a problem. The health care providers mentioned that they are under a lot of stress and feel that they are also suffering from burnout.
The caregivers reported quite a large difference between the situations in the institutions in different areas. The healthcare providers indicated that they have lost hope and do not think that a cure for AIDS will ever be found. This implies that healthcare providers find it stressful to care for HIV and AIDS patients.
The infrastructure also prevents healthcare providers from carrying out their tasks properly. This causes a lot of stress for healthcare providers, because they miss their clients. Offering integrated services becomes difficult if healthcare providers have to deal with long queues.
The health care providers cited this as one of the reasons why workload has increased in many health facilities. The implication is that the healthcare providers also need support when they get sick. I wish a committee could be formed that would look into the health care providers' needs.
Again, the stress and burnout suffered by the health care providers stems from the heavy workload in the health facilities.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
There are a number of factors that contribute to healthcare providers' prolonged stress, which ultimately leads to burnout. In some health facilities, the health care providers are not able to serve all the patients waiting for services in a day. The study revealed that the fear among the health care providers caused a lot of stress.
In addition, due to the increased number of patients seen daily, health care providers work under a lot of stress. Again, the lack of knowledge or little knowledge about the care of HIV and AIDS patients appeared to be a major problem among health care providers. But even the fear of infection stems from the poor knowledge of HIV and AIDS among health personnel.
The health care providers who have received comprehensive training in HIV and AIDS care are more confident in caring for HIV and AIDS patients than those who have never attended training. Furthermore, the study indicated that there are high mortality and morbidity rates among the health care providers due to HIV and AIDS related diseases. This study revealed a number of challenges facing healthcare providers in relation to the high prevalence of HIV.
There should also be a plan for more HIV and AIDS management training for health care providers. Prevalence of HIV infection and mean CD4 count among health care workers in South Africa. The impact of HIV/AIDS on health care delivery: Perceptions of nurses currently working in a regional hospital in Namibia.
ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS ON THE HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS. requirements to be awarded with this degree is to hold a dissertation in your area of interest. I chose to conduct a research that determines the impact of HIV and AIDS among the health care providers in Lesotho.
