Family participation to enhance care and tackle health worker shortages in resource-limited hospitals

We are delighted to have received a grant from the Otto Kranendonk Fund to carry out our “Family participation to enhance care and tackle health worker shortages in resource-limited hospitals” research project.

A growing global shortage of health workers is limiting access to healthcare, and innovative solutions are needed, especially in resource-limited countries. In such countries, understaffed hospitals often rely on the family to participate in the care of their loved ones; for example, feeding, washing, giving medication or dressing wounds. We hypothesise that formalised family participation in hospital care could enhance care and support family caregivers while tackling health worker shortages. However, from our literature study, the effect of family participation interventions in these settings remains uncertain.

The project funded by the OKF aims to assess the role of family caregivers in hospital care at Chittagong Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh, with a mixed methods study. This study will provide a holistic understanding of the current situation and local needs to design a follow-up intervention study. The project is built in collaboration with local and international partners: Chittagong Medical College Hospital, The Asian University for Women, Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit and the Amsterdam UMC.

With the OKF grant, our consortium can build the foundation for an unexplored field of research and a community of researchers for family participation in hospital care.