Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36419126›Full record

ArticleHuman resources for health2022

Analysis of factors influencing technical efficiency of public district hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa.

Tesleem K Babalola, Hammed O Ojugbele, Moyad Shahwan, Indres Moodley

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Article in Human resources for health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Tesleem K BabalolaProgram in Public Health, Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA. tesleem.babalola@stonybrook.edu.ORCID 0000-0003-1568-3134
Hammed O OjugbeleDepartment of Public Administration & Governance, Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa.
Moyad ShahwanCentre of Medical and Bio-Allied Health Sciences Research, Ajman University, Ajman, UAE.
Indres MoodleyDepartment of Public Health Medicine, School of Nursing and Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDistrict hospitals are crucial in supporting primary health care and serve as a gateway to more specialist care through a referral system. Majority of South Africans access health care services through the public sector district health system. Given the enormous task assigned to the public district hospital within the country, this study examined factors influencing their technical efficiency.

methodData were collected for 38 public district hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal province from 2014/15 to 2016/17. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to determine the technical efficiency of the hospitals, adopting both the constant return to scale (CRS) and variable return to scale (VRS) models. Tobit regression model was used to determine factors related to the technical efficiency of the district hospitals.

resultsThis study showed that a significant proportion of the district hospitals were technically inefficient. The Tobit regression model identified catchment population, the proportion of inpatients treated per medical personnel, the proportion of inpatients treated per nursing personnel and expenditure per patient day equivalent as factors influencing technical efficiency of the district hospitals.

conclusionFindings from this study suggest that the technical efficiency of the district hospitals can be enhanced through an effective referral system and improved peoples' health-seeking behaviour. In addition, a standard mix of clinical staff toward efficient service delivery and periodic cost analysis of health services with the view to saving cost and maintaining the quality of health care should be considered.

Indexed as

Hospitals, DistrictHospitals, PublicHealth ExpendituresHealth FacilitiesHumansSouth AfricaAfricaHealthcareHospitalsTechnical efficiency

Identifiers

PMID36419126
PMCPMC9682685

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.