International Journal of Management and Business Studies ISSN: 2167-0439 Vol. 3 (8), pp. 110-117, August, 2013. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals Review From service to academics: Analysis of a change process in the Department of Anaesthesiology University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Nigeria Dr. Bisola Onajin-Obembe Department of Anaesthesiology, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Email: bisolaobembe@yahoo.co.uk. Tel: +2348033267288 Accepted 1 August, 2013 This paper examines a change process in the Department of Anaesthesiology of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, as it transforms from a service-to an academic-oriented organization. Analysis was performed using the Herold and Fedor’s comprehensive change framework. It covers key highlights of what needs changing, how to proceed, and implementation of change in relation to who will lead, who is expected to follow, internal and external contexts with a possibility of altering elements of the situation and/or reconsideration of the change process. It provides an overview of the key players in the department of anaesthesiology namely the change leader, the relationship with various stakeholders and followers. It further looks at the implementation of some changes in the department. The findings confirm that change is dynamic and organizations can transform in response to the environment. Keywords: Change management, change leader, Department of Anaesthesia, Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. INTRODUCTION Anaesthesia in most tertiary hospitals in West Africa started as a service for surgery and obstetrics thus upgrading to an academic department has to be strategic i.e. carefully planned and deliberate (Lunenburg, 2011; Goodstein 2011). Cawseyet al. (2012) refer to organizational change as a planned alteration of organizational components to improve effectiveness. Interest in academic anaesthesia in the University of Port Harcourt developed from a need to include some basic knowledge of anaesthesiology and resuscitation into medical students’ curriculum, as well as to develop lecturers and researchers who will provide specialist training for doctors in the teaching hospital. This training would lead to the Diploma in Anaesthesia (DA) following an 18 months program which will supply middle-level manpower; and/or a maximum of 6 years program resulting in the Fellowship in Anaesthesia awarded by the West African College of Surgeons (FWACS) or the Fellowship of the Medical College of Anaesthesia (FMCA) awarded by the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) (Ajayi and Adebamowo, 1999; Bodeet al., 2008).The West African College of Surgeons (WACS) became a college in 1969 but prior to that year, it existed as the Association of Surgeons of West African which was founded in 1960 (Ajayi and Adebamowo, 1999). Globally, anaesthesia has become so highly specialized having been influenced by newer drugs with less hazardous profiles, techniques that are easy and safe to use, safeguarding technologies for anaesthetic machines and accurate monitoring techniques (Haller G, 2013; Botney R, 2008; Myles et al., 2004; Tinker et al.,1989). While academic departments of anaesthesia in the western world have experienced remarkable growth (Nunn, 1999), and offer “high tech, high precision” services, as well as pride themselves on running postgraduate training programmes and research as evidenced by the quality of journals, most specialist anaesthesiologists in Nigeria and West Africa are still