Abstract

The quality of healthcare services in Egypt is lacking and there is room for improvement. One proposed strategy for improvement is the investment in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of its healthcare staff. This thesis aims at assessing the degree of readiness and acceptance for CPD in the Egyptian healthcare sector and what can be done for effective implementation for improving the quality of healthcare services and patient safety. The qualitative analysis methodology was used. The data were collected through interviews using semi-structured open-ended questions. The questions were built based on the literature review data, observations, and pilot study. The sampling method was non-random and purposive. The target was representative of stakeholder groups who affect and are affected by CPD. Ten Semi-structured interviews were conducted, which included, for example, officials from the general medical syndicate, Dean of the faculty of medicine of a public university, a representative from the Ministry of Health (MoH) and physicians from universities, public hospitals, and other relevant organizations in greater Cairo. The main finding of the study revealed that physicians are motivated for CPD. Books and online search are the main methods for CDP. Young physicians prefer online-search to get the information, but elder physicians prefer to read hard copy books. E-learning courses and websites are not popular among Egyptian physicians. Time, cost and infrastructures are the main challenges for CPD. Physicians need more practical courses and hand on training, rather than just relying on theoretical lectures. Practical training inside the MoH hospitals needs more improvement. There is a limited motivation to develop Egyptian credit hour system now, as there is no system to renew physicians' license to practice in Egypt. Physicians are not motivated to collect credit hours in Egypt, that is not related to credit hours' cost but it is related to usage of these credit hours. International medical certifications are popular among Egyptian physicians, which are an alternative to Ph.D. degree for non-academic physicians. Based on the literature review and field work, the study develops a readiness assessment framework, ends up with a number of suggested areas for improvement, in addition to a draft action plan and Gantt chart.

Department

Public Policy & Administration Department

Degree Name

MA in Public Administration

Graduation Date

2-1-2018

Submission Date

September 2017

First Advisor

El Baradei, Laila

Committee Member 1

Barsoum, Ghada

Committee Member 2

Bhuiyan, Shahjahan

Extent

90 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

Comments

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor and instructor Prof. Laila El Baradei for her continuous support, patience, and motivation in the process of writing this thesis. I would also like to thank the study readers Prof. Shahjahan Bhuiyan and Prof. Ghada Barsom, who were very generous with their time and advice provided throughout the process. I want to thank my family; particularly my parents and wife for their support, love and encouragement through my period of study. My dear Son Omar and daughter Nour deserve my wholehearted thanks as well. I would like to truly thank Youssef Jameel Fellowship for giving me this terrific opportunity. Also, I want to thank all the administrative team in the public policy and administration department and the GAPP school; Mariez, Iman and Amira for their great friendly support.

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