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The burden and cost of sickness absenteeism amongst healthcare workers at a teaching hospital in South Africa. A cross-sectional study.

A high burden of sickness-related absenteeism (SRA) amongst healthcare workers (HCWs) may impact health service delivery. The burden is known in high-income settings but not well evaluated in low and middle income (LMIC) settings and absent within a South African context. To determine the prevalence...

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Main Author: Khan, Muhamed Adil
Other Authors: Adams, Shahieda
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Public Health and Family Medicine 2023
Subjects:
Public Health
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access_status_str Open Access
author Khan, Muhamed Adil
author2 Adams, Shahieda
author_browse Adams, Shahieda
Khan, Muhamed Adil
author_facet Adams, Shahieda
Khan, Muhamed Adil
author_sort Khan, Muhamed Adil
collection Thesis
description A high burden of sickness-related absenteeism (SRA) amongst healthcare workers (HCWs) may impact health service delivery. The burden is known in high-income settings but not well evaluated in low and middle income (LMIC) settings and absent within a South African context. To determine the prevalence, associated medical conditions and cost of SRA amongst HCWs in a LMIC setting, we evaluated Human Resource (HR) absence records from a teaching hospital in South Africa over a 3 year period. Of the 3,543 HCW employed during the study period, 78% (n = 2,748) had at least 1 SRA episode. The overall SRA prevalence was 2.63%. The mean duration of absence was 2.25 days per episode and the mean frequency was 2.65 episodes per annum. Conditions of the musculoskeletal system (40.1%) were the most commonly reported, followed by acute infections of the upper respiratory tract (13.2%) and other respiratory conditions (6.2%). The total direct cost SRA was US$5,105,061.78 over the study period and the mean direct SRA cost per person was US$1,857.74 per episode. The results demonstrate a higher SRA burden compared with studies in similar settings and prompts further research into the causative factors and targeted risk mitigation strategies.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:13.838Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Department of Public Health and Family Medicine
publisherStr Department of Public Health and Family Medicine
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37526 The burden and cost of sickness absenteeism amongst healthcare workers at a teaching hospital in South Africa. A cross-sectional study. Khan, Muhamed Adil Adams, Shahieda Cleary, Susan Public Health A high burden of sickness-related absenteeism (SRA) amongst healthcare workers (HCWs) may impact health service delivery. The burden is known in high-income settings but not well evaluated in low and middle income (LMIC) settings and absent within a South African context. To determine the prevalence, associated medical conditions and cost of SRA amongst HCWs in a LMIC setting, we evaluated Human Resource (HR) absence records from a teaching hospital in South Africa over a 3 year period. Of the 3,543 HCW employed during the study period, 78% (n = 2,748) had at least 1 SRA episode. The overall SRA prevalence was 2.63%. The mean duration of absence was 2.25 days per episode and the mean frequency was 2.65 episodes per annum. Conditions of the musculoskeletal system (40.1%) were the most commonly reported, followed by acute infections of the upper respiratory tract (13.2%) and other respiratory conditions (6.2%). The total direct cost SRA was US$5,105,061.78 over the study period and the mean direct SRA cost per person was US$1,857.74 per episode. The results demonstrate a higher SRA burden compared with studies in similar settings and prompts further research into the causative factors and targeted risk mitigation strategies. 2023-03-28T09:55:36Z 2023-03-28T09:55:36Z 2022 2023-03-15T11:43:43Z Master Thesis Masters MPH http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37526 eng application/pdf Department of Public Health and Family Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences
spellingShingle Public Health
Khan, Muhamed Adil
The burden and cost of sickness absenteeism amongst healthcare workers at a teaching hospital in South Africa. A cross-sectional study.
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The burden and cost of sickness absenteeism amongst healthcare workers at a teaching hospital in South Africa. A cross-sectional study.
title_full The burden and cost of sickness absenteeism amongst healthcare workers at a teaching hospital in South Africa. A cross-sectional study.
title_fullStr The burden and cost of sickness absenteeism amongst healthcare workers at a teaching hospital in South Africa. A cross-sectional study.
title_full_unstemmed The burden and cost of sickness absenteeism amongst healthcare workers at a teaching hospital in South Africa. A cross-sectional study.
title_short The burden and cost of sickness absenteeism amongst healthcare workers at a teaching hospital in South Africa. A cross-sectional study.
title_sort burden and cost of sickness absenteeism amongst healthcare workers at a teaching hospital in south africa a cross sectional study
topic Public Health
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37526
work_keys_str_mv AT khanmuhamedadil theburdenandcostofsicknessabsenteeismamongsthealthcareworkersatateachinghospitalinsouthafricaacrosssectionalstudy
AT khanmuhamedadil burdenandcostofsicknessabsenteeismamongsthealthcareworkersatateachinghospitalinsouthafricaacrosssectionalstudy

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