Barriers of Intraprenurship Practice at South African Public Hospitals: Perspectives of Unit Nurse Managers

The paper highlights the barriers of intrapreneurship practice experienced by unit nurse managers working within the embattled public hospitals. The qualitative study was, descriptive, explorative and contextual in nature. The focus groups’discussions shed light on the plight of front runners constantly experiencing numerous intrapreneurial barriers frustrating ideation into implementable transformative programs. The barriers identified in this study include; lack of resources, security issues affecting freedom of staff and patients, poor staff ratios impacting on the rights of staff and patients, poor communication and unfair incentivised performance management system. The minimal conceptualization of intrapreneurship being quite foreign to nursing revealed in the findings is a wakeup call for senior teams pressured to improve performance. A number of public hospitals reforms consider the salient contribution of human capital in health care being key in driving quality improvement initiatives. Capacity development measures in education and clinical practice is a sensible recommendation through empowering nurses on business inclined management strategies like intrapreneurship practice improving the health care outcomes.