Ömer Gider

Interaction of organizational commitment and job satisfaction of nurses and medical secretaries in Turkey

The main aims of this study is to explain the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment and to investigate the effects of gender, education level, age, monthly income, ownership type of the employed hospital, length of employment in the hospital, job and marital status on organizational commitment and job satisfaction. The research was carried out in three hospitals in Turkey. The research population includes 872 people: 677 nurses and 195 medical secretaries. All the questions on the research instruments were answered by 55.4% of the population. A significant and positive relationship was found between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Nurses' Views on Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in Turkey: An Analysis According to Use, Quality and User Satisfaction

Electronic medical records are generally used by nurses in hospitals. However, studies investigating views on and evaluations of electronic medical records by nurses are limited in Turkey and in other countries around the world. Thus, in this study, nurses’ views on electronic medical record systems will be investigated in terms of use, quality and user satisfaction. Our goal was to investigate the views on electronic medical records used by nurses working at hospital clinics (inpatient care units). Moreover, in this study, we will examine whether there are relationships among the use, quality and user satisfaction of electronic medical records. This study is composed of field research conducted using questionnaires. To prepare the data-measuring instrument, the literature on electronic medical records was reviewed. In addition, during the pilot run of the questionnaire, some revisions were made to the measuring instrument to account for the views of nurse managers in the field. The questionnaire consists of 35 items: 12 items for use, 12 items for quality and 11 items for user satisfaction. A Likert scale type was used in this questionnaire. Responses for usage and quality were assigned a value of 1–5 (‘never/almost never/not at all’ to ‘always/almost always’) for each item. Responses for user satisfaction were assigned a value of 1–5 (‘not at all’, to ‘very great’) for each item. The study was planned and conducted on nurses working at inpatient care units at one public university hospital, one Turkish Ministry of Health hospital and one private hospital in Kocaeli. A sampling technique was not used because we aimed to conduct the questionnaire among all nurses. At the end of this study, the questionnaire had been conducted on 200 nurses. We found that the average score for the nurses’ satisfaction with electronic medical records was 3.28, the average score for using electronic medical records was 1.96, and the average score for the quality of electronic medical records was 3.16. We also determined that there are significant relationships among the use, quality and user satisfaction of electronic medical records. This study revealed that there are significant differences among the mean quality scores for the EMR systems in the Ministry of health hospital, the university hospital and the private hospital. Interestingly, 59.0% of all participants in this study felt that EMR systems were not well integrated into their workflow. In addition, half of all respondents had not been trained in using EMR systems.

An Investigation of Hospital Disaster Preparedness in Turkey

The objective of this study was to examine the plans that public, university and private hospitals in Turkey have made in preparation for possible disasters, and to further investigate what types of measures have been taken as a way of focusing on plan characteristics and surge capacity.The study involved 430 hospitals throughout Turkey, each of which had 100 or more beds according to statistical data issued by The Ministry of Health of Turkey. Of these 430 hospitals, 358 were public, 40 were university-affiliated, and 32 were private. The questionnaires developed for the study were sent to the hospitals by mail. Only 251 hospitals returned responses. The questionnaire response rate was 58.4%. A total of 32 questions were asked in the survey. Frequency distributions of the data for statistical analysis were made, and tables were created according to the type and capacity of the hospitals.This study found that 233 hospitals (92.8%) have written disaster plans. When analyzed according to the type of hospital, 204 public hospitals (93.2%), 19 university hospitals (86.4%) and 10 private hospitals (100%) were found to have written disaster plans. According to the study, 63.5% of the public hospitals, 80% of the private hospitals and 31.8% of the university hospitals perform an exercise on an annual basis, as stated in the disaster plan.Disasters occur at unexpected times and have the potential to seriously affect the demand for health services. Local hospitals are one of the most significant facilities for providing health services during disasters. In this study, the level of disaster preparation of the hospitals in Turkey was examined.

Examining the role of employee focus in the Turkish healthcare industry

The role of quality management (QM) is becoming more evident in healthcare organisations where lack of focus on employees may have immediate impact on employee turnover and quality of care. As a field, QM has recently been established in the Turkish context; and its potential role and impact is yet to be explored in the healthcare organisations. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of employee focus of QM through the perceived relationship among organisational commitment, organisational trust, and job satisfaction of healthcare professionals in Turkey. Strong positive relationships were identified between organisational commitment, organisational trust, and job satisfaction. Furthermore, organisational trust and job satisfaction significantly affect organisational commitment. There are strong inferences among organisational commitment and job satisfaction. The findings of the study call for a more involved QM practices in Turkish healthcare organisations.

Perceptions of Physicians About Knowledge Sharing Barriers in Turkish Health Care System

This study was based on knowledge sharing barriers about attitudes of physicians in Turkish health care system. The present study aims to determine whether the knowledge sharing barriers about attitudes of physicians vary depending on gender, position, departments at hospitals, and hospital ownership status. This study was planned and conducted on physicians at one public hospital, one university hospital, and one private hospital in Turkey. 209 physicians were reached for data collection. The study was conducted in June-September 2014. The questionnaire (developed by A. Riege, (J. Knowl. Manag. 9(3):18–35, 2005)), five point Likert‐type scale including 39 items having the potential of the physicians’ knowledge‐ sharing attitudes and behaviors, was used in the study for data collection. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, student t test and ANOVA were used for data analysis. According to results of this study, there was medium level of knowledge sharing barriers within hospitals. In general, physicians had perceptions about the lowest level individual barriers, intermediate level organizational barriers and the highest level technological barriers perceptions, respectively. This study revealed that some knowledge sharing barriers about attitudes of physicians were significantly difference according to hospital ownership status, gender, position and departments. Most evidence medical decisions and evidence based practice depend on experience and knowledge of existing options and knowledge sharing in health care organizations. Physicians are knowledge and information-intensive and principal professional group in health care context.