Internal Quality and Job Satisfaction in Health Care Services.

(1) Background: The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the health services' internal quality level in Greek public hospitals and to investigate whether there is a relation between internal quality and health care professionals' job satisfaction. (2) Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in six public hospitals (four general and two specialized hospitals). The following tools were used to collect data: (a) the SERVQUAL questionnaire, which is designed to measure service quality through five dimensions, and (b) the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) questionnaire, which is designed to measure employees' job satisfaction. Convenience sampling was used as a sampling technique. (3) Results: The level of internal quality service was found to be low as regards the dimensions of: reliability, assurance, responsiveness, and empathy, while the "tangibles" dimension was the only one which was assessed as having a satisfactory internal quality level. Τhe results also revealed a positive correlation between the job satisfaction subscales and the quality dimensions. Regarding demographic characteristics and their effect on employees' perceptions of internal quality dimensions, the study found that the gender and the educational factor had no effect while younger employees have a more positive perception of the quality of responsiveness dimension in the health organizations where they work. In terms of profession, administrative staff had a lower perception of the quality of tangibles dimension than doctors and nurses. Concerning years of experience, the results indicated that employees with more previous working experience had a worse perception of the quality of reliability, responsiveness, and assurance dimensions. (4) Conclusions: According to the results, establishing a sense of trust and understanding between management and health professionals through effective communication, transparent evaluation, and reward is critical to developing, enhancing, and promoting an internal quality culture in a hospital setting.

Assessment of Health Professionals' Attitudes on Radiation Protection Measures.

(1) Background: Health professionals' knowledge, beliefs and perceptions concerning radiation protection may affect their behaviour during surgery and consequently influence the quality of health services. This study highlights the health professionals' average knowledge level and captures the beliefs, perceptions, and behaviours in a large public Greek hospital. (2) Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out, including health professionals working in operating rooms. One hundred thirty-two staff members participated by responding to an original questionnaire. The sample consisted of nurses, radiographers and medical doctors of various specialties involved daily in surgical procedures where ionizing radiation is required. The survey was conducted from March to June 2021, and the response rate was 97%. (3) Results: The level of overall knowledge of health professionals regarding radiation protection safety was not satisfactory. Females and employees with a lower level of education had more misconceptions about radiation and radiation protection. Employees of younger ages and with less previous experience were more likely to have negative emotions towards radiation exposure. Finally, employees with fewer children tended to express physical complaints caused by their negative emotions due to radiation exposure. (4) Conclusions: Health professionals' lack of basic and specialized knowledge concerning radiation protection safety had a negative impact on the provision of health services. The continuing training of the staff seemed to be the only solution to reverse this trend. The training should highlight how radiation exposure can be minimized, safeguarding health professionals' trust and sense of security by significantly improving their working environment.

Public Hospital Quality Assessment. Evidence from Greek Health Setting Using SERVQUAL Model.

(1) Background: Health care service quality has been equated with preparedness to provide, accessibility, suitability, adequacy, friendliness and ongoing support and has been connected to service excellence. The main aim of this study was to investigate patients' perceptions and expectations regarding the quality of health services. (2) Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was carried out in 5 public general hospitals and convenience sampling was used as the sampling technique. Questionnaires were distributed to inpatients and outpatients and 700 valid questionnaires were returned. The SERVQUAL questionnaire was used for data collection in this survey. (3) Results: Overall, in this study, it became apparent that patients' expectations as regarding the quality of the provided services were not met. All of the five quality dimensions had a negative gap between patients' expectations and perceptions. (4) Conclusions: The findings suggested that hospital managers and health care professionals should be interested about patient expectations and subsequently they should search out ways and means to meet them. Open communication with patients, individualized attention, as well as responsiveness to their requirements, polite behavior, trustful atmosphere across the hospital and better physical facilities are the key elements that determine the patient's judgment about quality.

Differences of mentally ill patients' satisfaction degree during their involuntary or voluntary stay in a psychiatric clinic.

BACKGROUND: Mental health illness is not considered as a private matter, as it affects not only the mental patient's life and those who are considered his/her immediate family, but also the society as a whole. The involuntary examination and/or hospitalization in the field of mental health as the basic first-line therapeutic solution in Greece, calls for an immediate intervention, which is supposed to counterbalance the need for therapy and patient's rights of personal freedom and safety. DESIGN AND METHODS: A research using questionnaire was realized, consisting of 100 hospitalized patients in psychiatric clinics (50 voluntarily and 50 involuntarily hospitalized) at the Psychiatric Hospital of Attica. The sampling scheme was the stratified sampling and the level of statistical significance was set to α=0.05. RESULTS: The results have shown that involuntarily and voluntarily hospitalized mental patients did not differ significantly with almost the entirety of the questionnaire; however, the involuntary patients were significantly more satisfied with the conditions of hospitalization as well as assessing the overall quality of the services provided during their hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: For mentally ill patients, greater importance and stronger correlation with gratification, does not constitute the admission procedure to the psychiatric clinic but the development of effective communication and therapeutic relationship with the staff, full knowledge and update about patient's health condition, medication, participation in therapeutic planning and hospitalization in a regime of autonomy and respect for their rights.

Learning Organizational Culture in Greek Public Hospitals.

(1) Background: A learning organizational culture is crucial to the safety of patients and the quality of public health care. The aim of this study was to assess the learning organizational culture and capacity of Greek public hospitals. (2) Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was carried out in six public general hospitals and stratified sampling was used as the sampling technique. A total of 480 questionnaires were distributed to health care professionals and 380 valid questionnaires were returned (78% response rate). The comprehensive form of the Dimensions of Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ), which was adapted and translated into Greek, was used for data collection in this survey. (3) Results: The level of learning organizational culture and capacity in the health units are very low. All seven dimensions of the learning organizational instrument are lower than the theoretically neutral median (3.0). Health care employees believe that the hospital's existing culture and management practices do not foster and contribute to continuing learning, which is the fundamental aspect of self-development, department development and performance improvement. (4) Conclusions: Greek public hospitals need to adopt different types of leadership practices and culture in order to be able to facilitate organizational learning. Organizational learning (OL) is based on collaborative working, a culture that encompasses learning as participation in the organizational work practice. This transformation of culture should take place at all levels of learning to enhance results.

Validation of Dimensions of Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) in health care setting in Greece.

Background: In health care systems the organizational learning is a continuous process to improve actions through better knowledge and detect or correct errors. This study examines the validity and reliability of the Dimensions of Learning Organization Questionnaire in addition to the applicability of the instrument in a Greek health care cultural context. Design and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 6 general hospitals of Attica and the sampling scheme was the stratified sampling. Questionnaires were distributed to 487 healthcare professionals and 380 valid questionnaires were returned. The research tool used in this survey is the extensive form of DLOQ, which has been adapted and translated into Greek language. Data analysis was carried out with SPSS 25. Results: Three leading experts of the health sector examined the face validity assessment of the translated DLOQ and stated that it is characterized by high face validity. As regard construct validity of the DOLQ throughout Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix, was proved that all the variables of the same factors are statistically significantly correlated (p<0.001), and their correlation coefficients have moderate to high power ranging between 0.563 and 0.798. Moreover, the discriminant validity was demonstrated as certain correlation coefficients between variables of different factors were found to be higher than of certain correlation coefficients between variables of the same factors. The internal consistency among the items of the DOLQ range between 0.842 and 0.977 and they are considered to be good to excellent. Conclusions: Our results confirmed that DLOQ is a valuable tool in measuring Learning Organizational in Greek public hospitals.

Patients' satisfaction evaluation with the health center of elis province.

Patient satisfaction related to the provided health services is a key indicator of the quality of the health sector. The SERVQUAL model was employed as a way of measuring the level of patient satisfaction with the services of the Health Center of Elis Province. Although certain aspects such as "Assurance" and "Empathy" meet the users' needs, improvements like a detailed medical record and an overhaul of the equipment need to be introduced.

Satisfaction degree evaluation of the users of "Attikon" University General Hospital's library.

The ability of hospital medical libraries to meet users' needs is a complicated issue and has been examined by many surveys. The aim of this study is to evaluate the satisfaction degree of the users of "Attikon" University General Hospital's medical library. A questionnaire was used to collect the necessary information Although, in general, the users seems to be satisfied, some adjustments, such as up-to-date books, journals and computers, have to be made.

Satisfaction degree evaluation of Elena Venizelou-Alexandra's Maternity Clinic patients.

The concept of health care users' satisfaction is a complicated issue that is constantly differentiated and adapted. Aim of this study is to evaluate the satisfaction degree of the patients of Alexandra Maternity Clinic and to determine their total perception concerning the quality of health services it offers. A suitably designed questionnaire was used so as to collect all the necessary information. Although the patients seem to be satisfied with the quality of health services in total, some organizational issues, such as bureaucracy, need to be solved.