Determining the effect of techno stress among health workers

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the effect of techno stress among health workers at Meru Regional Referral Hospital in Arusha, the study used purposive; the method of data collection was the survey method whereby a quantitative approach was used for data analysis. The major research instrument used for the research was the Questionnaire and data was analysed using SPSS following the research questions and the analysed data was presented in tables with frequencies and percentages. The researcher aimed at establishing the major factors that cause techno stress among Mount Meru Regional Referral Hospital staff and the factors that were strongly agreed by many respondents as a cause of techno stress at MRRH staff was poor internet connectivity 22(73 %) and unreliable power supply 19(63%), lack of qualified IT/ICT specialists for troubleshooting and technical support 15(50%), technical problems 14(47%), lack of knowledge about new technology and computers among MRRH staff 12( 40%), negative attitude towards computer use among MRRH staff 10( 33%). From the study findings and the reviewed literature it can be recommended that there are various factors that are causing techno stress among MRRH staff, some of which are considered to be major factors and some not. These factors can be grouped into three categories including human resource factors concerned with the capacity of the qualified IT staff, management factors concerned with all administrative issues including financial resources, decision making, rewards and training and lastly the factors related to technology itself including complexity of IT terminologies, pace of technological change and technical support. The Ministry of Health and MRRH management should make sure that staff are empowered to cope with the changing technology so that technostress among health workers are reduced if not eliminated at all.