Reducing the brain drain: determining factors for turnover of medical practitioners at a specialized tertiary institution in South Africa.

Abstract

Abstract Medical practitioners form backbone of the health care system in South Africa. The skill of trained medical specialists is imperative for service delivery and the ongoing teaching of registrars at government training facilities. Against a backdrop of inequality, history dictates that a large populace of disadvantaged South Africans remain reliant on government health care institutions for medical treatment. Many departments within the KZN health system have seen an exodus of medical practitioners resulting in the brain drain phenomenon. To address the problem the purpose of the study was to determine the factors affecting high turnover of medical practitioners within the departments of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Anaesthesiology at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital which is a specialized tertiary institution in South Africa. This was a cross sectional study conducted among 60 medical practitioners from the departments of Cardiothoracic and Anaesthetics at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital using a self-administered questionnaire.The entire population from both departments were selected therefore there was no sampling that was being done with any relevance to a sample size. To gather data, a quantitative study was conducted to deduce findings. Results found that, remuneration within the public health care sector, quality of life, opportunities for training and development, governance in the public health care sector of KwaZulu-Natal and leadership were the main reasons for medical practitioners wanting to leave. The findings can be used to drive further interventions to reduce turnover rates and guide the formulation of policies.