Optimization Of Wisn Algorithm For Human Resource Management At Health Facilities In Tanzania A Case Of Dodoma City Council (Dcc)

ABSTRACT

Tanzania and other developing countries use a model called Workload Indicators for Staffing Need (WISN). The use of the WISN model in Health Human Resource planning and management is limited by several factors including budget, prospected retirees, and strategic priority. Also, the WISN users find the methodology, especially the implementation of its technical steps complex and laborious, thus makes the tool difficult to use. The algorithm used needs to be optimized or improved to overcome different challenges like budget and prospected retirees as reported by different researchers. This study aimed to investigate the additional components necessary for optimizing WISN in the context of Tanzania health facilities. The study employed a qualitative and quantitative research strategy and adopted an interpretive approach for data analysis. The findings were obtained through the use of case studies conducted in two ministries, President's Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG) and Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDEC) in Tanzania. Methods such as key informants’ interviews and document reviews were used in collecting data for the study. Besides, during this study development of optimized WISN software was done and demonstrated to department officials to obtain their views on the system performance by comparing with the current WISN system. The findings originated from this study it suggested the inclusion of the other components like budget constraints, strategic priorities, staff allocation, and the number of prospected of retirees to the existing WISN. The study concludes by suggesting the optimized WISN can further be improved to accommodate teacher’s allocation