ABSTRACT

Factors such as better training, meeting of higher needs, having some values as the organization experience etc. are said to impact motivation in an organization. In Hospital and other health institutions, motivation of nurses is key to their performance. A nurse does not only need to be committed to his/her duty but must also be competent enough to carry out the required tasks. In this study, an assessment of the relationship of work motivation on the technical competence of nurses working in the theatres of two institutions in Sokoto State was carried out. To achieve thisareas considered were that of technical competence, remuneration, operational facilities training/development and supervision.A descriptive and correlational survey design was employed. Motivation factors questionnaire and structured observational tool were used to determine the relationship between work motivations on the technical competence of nurses working in theatre. The results shows that there was a no significant relationship between technical competence of theatre nurses, training and development opportunities(r= -0.024, p=o.875).There was also no significant relationship between adequacy of work remuneration and technical competence of theatre nurses in Sokoto (r= 0.276, P= 0.069). Positive and no significant relationship existed between availability of operational facilities and the technical competence of theatre nurses in the study area(r=0.228, p=0.123). Finally, the study showed that there was no significant relationships between work supervision and technical competence of nurses working in theatres of the two assessed health facility in Sokoto State(r=0.016, p=0.914).The study therefore concluded that the is no significant relationship between work motivation andTechnical Competence of nurses working in theatres of two tertiary health facilities in Sokoto State. Based on the findings of this study the researcher recommends the followings: That the training method or the mode of training should be reorganized or change to conform with the training objectives. That the Hospitals should acquire current facilities, equipment, materials and machines used in providing effective and qualitative perioperative services. The Management should introduce non-monetary packages in their work reward system to enhance the performance of perioperative Nurses. Management should evolve a more friendly means of supervising the Nurses not just through direct supervision, indirect supervision can solve this. Further research on the topic with broader scope on the study area is also recommended.

Key words: Work motivation, technical competence, training, remuneration, operational facility                                                         and                                                         supervision.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

In the health sector which is characterized much more as a "labor intensive" rather than

"capital intensive", employees are the most important elements in improving efficiency,

enhancing productivity and maximizing the quality of service (Bakola,Zyga, Panoutsopoulos

and Alikari, 2015). They also highlighted thatneed for motivating nurses as performance of

nursing staff depends on factors such as working environment conditions, financial rewards,

job stress etc.

Human resource is a vital component for health organization in delivering health services

(Africa Working Group, (2006). There are many factors that affect employee performance

like: work conditions, employee and employer relationship, training opportunity, job security,

and institution‘s overall policies and procedures for rewarding employees (Hafiza, 2011).

Among those factors, which affect employees‘ performance, motivation that comes with

rewards is of utmost importance (Hafiza,2011). Motivation is an accumulation of different

process that influence and direct our behaviour to achieve some specific goal (Baron, 1983).

Rewards can be extrinsic or intrinsic, extrinsic rewards are tangible rewards and these

rewards are external to the job or task performed by employee while intrinsic rewards are

intangible rewards or psychological rewards.

"Work motivation is a set of strong forces that originate bothwithin as well as beyond an

individual's make up, to initiate work-related behavior, and to determine its form, direction,

intensity and duration (Khairunnisa and Nurfaezah,2012).They see it as the set of internal and

external forces that initiate work-relatedbehavior, and determine its form, direction, intensity,

and duration. Work motivation is a middle-range concept that deals only with events and

phenomena related to people in a work context. It recognizes the influence of both

1

environmental forces (e.g., organizational reward systems, the nature of the work being