Learning Opportunities/Self-Acquisition of New Skills and Job Performance in Medical and Health Workers Unions of Nigeria (2010-2020)

Abstract

In almost all low- and middle-income countries, national health systems have been functioning sub-optimally due to recurring challenges within and external to the health sector, with this particularly affecting the delivery of accessible and affordable healthcare services. For the health care system to function optimally, it requires a strong body or union to ensure the performance of the workforce. In Nigeria, it requires significant increase in the number of additional health workers to achieve desired population coverage. The establishment of   Medical and Health Workers Union was targeted at learning and offering training skills for effective services delivery as well as fight the lingering crisis for medical and health workers. This paper provided insights on the activities of Medical and health workers union in the Nigerian health sector from 2010 to 2016. Furthermore, the paper provided an understanding of key underlying causes of poor performance of medical and health workers with feasible recommendations toward preventing and/or managing potential future occurrences in the country from 2010 to 2016. To boost the moral or workers, two theories of training and reward were employed-Human Capital Theory and Goal-Freedom Alertness Theory. The theories emphasis was on how staff training and goal setting from 2010 to 2016 has improved medical and health union. It was recommended amongst others that, there is a need to design a contextually adaptable framework for interprofessional education and collaborative practice in the health sector as recommended by the WHO, to further facilitate successful cooperation, communication and teamwork in health service delivery and ensure a health workforce that is better prepared to respond to local health needs. It was concluded that, the prevailing crises in the health workforce and service delivery may continue if unions or trade union organization refuses to intervene through policies that will better the worker environment.