Georgia

This paper represents the second phase of a larger study examining health worker motivation in two hospitals in Tbilisi, Georgia. The overall objective of the 360 degree assessment was to begin to identify the major organizational, situational, and individual factors associated with health worker motivation, and to better understand how major constituencies (i.e., managers, supervisors, workers, and patients) perceive the hospital/work environment. Specific objectives of this study component were to: assess congruence between managers, supervisors and workers on perceptions of hospital goals; compare perceptions of hospital and worker characteristics among types of workers (physician, nurse, other) and levels of respondents (managers, supervisors, workers, patients); and identify possible factors for stimulating good performance and possible interventions for enhancing motivation.

This paper represents the first phase of a larger study examining health worker motivation in two hospitals in Tbilisi, Georgia. The paper analyzes the context within which health workers are located and describes historic trends in the position of health workers and the current efforts to reform the health sector. It also provides a detailed analysis of work conditions and organizational features of the two study hospitals. [from abstract]

Health worker motivation has the potential to have a large impact on health systems performance, yet little is known about the key determinants and outcomes of motivation in developing and transition countries. This study, conducted in Jordan and Georgia focused on the individual determinants and outcomes of the worker’s motivational process. A wide range of psychometric scales was used to assess individual differences, perceived contextual factors and motivational outcomes (feelings, thoughts and behaviors). Although the two countries have very different cultural and socio-economic environments, many similarities existed among key determinants between the two countries.

This paper describes major directions of the reform thought by the Ministry of Health of Georgia to rationalize the hospital sector. It reviews the reform directions in the environmental context, and attempts to provide some quantitative and qualitative indicators to characterize the reform process and its impact. The discussion addresses the issues of granting autonomy to hospitals, exposure of hospitals to the market, social functions of the hospitals, and improved accountability of hospital facilities. The implications of the reform on HRD are analyzed. The final section of the paper summarizes the lessons learned from the Georgian experience.

Georgia’s health care system underwent dramatic reform after gaining independence in 1991. The decentralization of the health care system was one of the core elements of health care reform but reports suggest that human resource management issues were overlooked. The Georgian national immunization program was affected by these reforms and is not functioning at optimum levels. This paper describes the state of human resource management practices within the Georgian national immunization program in late 2004. [from abstract]

The aim of this study was to assess adequacy of HR of local public health agencies to meet the needs emerging from health care reforms in Georgia. [from abstract]

This report presents findings of an in-depth study into the determinants and outcomes of health worker motivation in two hospitals in Tbilisi, Georgia. The study aimed to compare ratings of different motivational determinants between different types of workers and test associations between motivational determinants and various outcomes of the motivational process. A total of 473 workers at the two hospitals completed a structured survey instrument consisting largely of psychometric tools adapted from similar work in the US. [from abstract]

This case study provides details of a partnership that emerged in Georgia following the initiation of health sector reforms in 1995. It mainly focuses on describing the details of how and why the public purchaser contracted a non-governmental provider to deliver a set of health services in Georgia. The case study is discussed with proper attention to the context within which this arrangement developed. The nature of the services provided was paediatric cardio-surgery, which can hardly be considered a basic essential health service. Notwithstanding this, the case study provides a sufficient body of evidence to facilitate policy discussions about public–private partnerships (PPPs) and their potential role in reaching the poor.