Involvement in decision-making processes and retention of health workers: findings from a cross-sectional study in the Rwandan Public District Hospitals

INTRODUCTION: The contribution of the health workforce for better health care service provision is undoubtedly of great merit to any health system. However, the public district hospitals in Rwanda have been faced with the challenges of retaining the health personnel. This study looks into the management approach to address this challenge by investigating into the effect of employee involvement in the hospital decision-making processes on the retention of professional health workers. METHODS: A cross-sectional design with quantitative approach was used. With a population of 469 health workers from 3 hospitals, a sample of 252 respondents was considered. Data collection was done by use of survey questionnaire. For data analysis, we used descriptive statistics to report perceived levels of involvement of health workers and intents to stay, and multiple logistic regression at 95% of confidence intervals to assess the effect of health workers? involvement in the hospital decision-making processes on the retention. RESULTS: The findings revealed that health workers who perceived a high level of involvement in the hospital decision-making processes through the determination of teams for quality improvement in the health care service delivery were more likely to stay in the hospital (OR=100.111; P=0.001; CI=5.984-16.747) than those who perceived this function as low. It was also found that while an average level of involvement of health workers in the establishment of systems for suggestion in the hospital was associated with 6 odds of staying (OR=6.005; P=0.010; CI=1.529-23.571), health workers who perceived a high level of involvement were nearly 11 times more likely to stay (OR=10.952; P=0.001; CI=7.730-15.519) than their counterparts with low levels of perceptions. CONCLUSION: Although there are positive associations between involvement of health workers in the hospitals decision-making processes and the intentions to stay, the existing level of staff involvement may have a negative effect on retention capacity in the public district hospitals.