Project – Maintenance practice of public health care facilities and its implication on health and safety of the users

ABSTRACT

The study appraised the state of building maintenance practice of General Hospital Shira and its implication on health and safety of its users. In the process, the research identified the significant difference(s) in the factors affecting building maintenance practice within the study area. In achieving the objective, the study adopted using questionnaire as data instrument. A total of ninety (90) questionnaires were distributed where 80 questionnaires were recovered comprising 16 administrators, 8 maintenance personnel, 24 patient, 24 staff and 8 others (visitors, patient relatives). A total of 80 questionnaires were used for the study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings of the study revealed that state of maintenance of General Hospital Shira buildings/services are found to be average in performance. Base on the results, the study recommends that a viable preventive and planned maintenance schedules that covers all major components/services should be prepared, communication should be improved on awareness of maintenance, conducting regular assessment on physical condition of the hospital building to address maintenance issue properly, Political factors and misplacement of funds should be properly checked on its effect on maintenance practice.

 

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

All structures eventually decay and disintegrate to the point of being no longer useful. The basic goal of maintenance is to keep buildings in their original functional, structural, and aesthetic state, so that they can stay that way and maintain their asset value for a long time.

According to Leong (2009), housing has a significant impact on residents’ health, safety, socioeconomic status, and political life. It affects every facet of human endeavor, in fact. As a result, the Condition of housing and its surroundings is a good predictor of the community’s degree of development and maintenance.

According to recent studies, many public hospitals have buildings that are both older than the hospitals themselves and many of the employees who work there. According to Onifade (2003).

General hospital shira may not be an exception because the installed health facilities in Nigeria may be just as ancient as the hospital’s founding date or even older.

All building elements depreciate in their strength and stability at a greater or lesser rate depending on method of construction, materials, age, environmental conditions, usage of building, and methods of design and management of the building. There are things to be done and put in place at the design stage to reduce the amount and rate of subsequent maintenance work (Faremi and Adenuga, 2012).

Public buildings in Nigeria are in awful form both structurally and aesthetically, as Iyagba and Adenuga (2005), have shown. Despite the fact that millions of Naira were spent on the construction of each structure, they are all abandoned as soon as they are finished so that degradation, decay, and dilapidation can occur quickly but steadily. To improve their quality if necessary for efficient health care functioning and standard, public hospital buildings and services must be evaluated for the presence of maintenance. How often have people postponed planned and scheduled maintenance, for example: This is a question that has been raised repeatedly.

According to Bnaful, (2004), disregarding maintenance can result in operational costs, resource waste, and reduced asset life in addition to early replacement and reduced asset life. One of the challenging topics in the realm of facilities management is maintenance of hospital structures.

For instance, Shohet, (2005) came to the conclusion that the hospital buildings’ complicated mechanical and electrical systems as well as their insufficient maintenance budget contribute to   this.

According to “Nous Hospital Consultants (2002),” a hospital is “not just a building, but a composite social institution, composed of many groups in place of a wide variety of interests and diverse   needs that utilizes the services of different medical, paramedical, and support personnel to render all needed health care to the patients in its custody.” It makes use of a wide range of contemporary engineering services and technologies to support the delivery of healthcare using various biological, pharmaceutical, chemical, and death situations. In addition, it supports the   evaluation of the user’s needs in order to improve their condition.

Since the primary goal of maintenance is to keep buildings in their original functional, structural, and aesthetic states so that they remain in such a state and retain their investment value over a long period of existence, it is therefore required by the deterioration of the materials and components of the building(s) and its environment. It is the work done to maintain or restore each component of the building(s), its contents, and its surroundings to an acceptable level or condition. This includes, but is not limited to, performing routine maintenance on works and replacing objects in structures and their surroundings that are in poor condition Jolaoso B.A, Musa N.A and Oriola O.A (2012)

As a result, the primary aim of this study is to look into the maintenance practice of general Hospital Shira.

1.2 Statement of problems

The majority of public hospital buildings are in appalling structural and aesthetic condition, and many public hospital buildings are usually maintained insufficiently, and in some cases no maintenance is carried out at all, consequently building elements such as roofs, walls, floors and other architectural features of the building evidently show signs of lack of care and repair.  Numerous studies have been conducted on the causes of poor maintenance management practices in public and private hospitals as well as housing developments, but little attention has been paid to the evaluation of building maintenance techniques to be used in the execution of maintenance programs for hospital structures. According to research, the lack of maintenance by the institutions and users of these facilities frequently shortens the lifespan of these buildings (Melvin, 1992); as a result, it is necessary to establish measures, factors, and evaluate the strategies for building maintenance practice of hospital buildings using appropriate maintenance analysis.

1.3 Research Question

1. What is the physical state of General Hospital Shira?
2. Has any maintenance work been carried out in this hospital?
3. What is the impact of maintenance practice in the hospital on health and safety of the users?
4. What are the factors affecting maintenance practice?
5. What are the strategies for improving the maintenance practice of hospital building to enhance its effectiveness

1.4 Aim and Objectives

1.4.1 Aim

“The aim of this research is to investigate the state of maintenance management practice of General Hospital Shira with a view to provide possible solution to improve the physical deplorable state of the structures within the hospital.

1.4.2 The objectives

1. To examine the physical functional condition of the hospital buildings in the study area
2. To determine the maintenance practices of the hospital in the study area
3. To analyze the implication of maintenance practice in hospital on health and safety of the users.
4. To assess the factors affecting maintenance practice in the hospital
5. To recommend strategies for improving the maintenance practice of hospital building to enhance its effectiveness.

1.5 Scope and Limitation

The General Hospital Shira in Bauchi State, Nigeria would be the sole subject of the research     due to the large number of public hospitals in Nigeria. It will assess the present condition of the existing building within the hospital

1.6 Significance of the Study

The hospital building maintenance managers and maintenance employees will be able to develop policies to direct their operation from strategy to performance evaluation with the help of this technique, which will be used in this study. The planning, scheduling, execution, analysis, and improvement of how to address the maintenance practice issues and weaknesses in hospital buildings will also be assisted by this study. Leong, (2009) further indicated that housing is a significant component affecting the residents’ health, safety, socioeconomic status, and political life.

This study takes into account the orientation of the users in illuminating their level of maintenance practice on their health, safety, and socioeconomic life. However, this study will also raise awareness of the demand for efficient maintenance management in our setting of public hospitals.

Project – Maintenance practice of public health care facilities and its implication on health and safety of the users