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19-Mar-2015
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Arch Hellen Med, 32(2), March-April 2015, 175-181 ORIGINAL PAPER Internal quality and work commitment: A study on the perceptions of hospital nursing staff C. Gogos,1,2 K. Itskara,1,2 E. Itskara2 |
OBJECTIVE To investigate the level of the internal quality in a regional general hospital, as perceived by the nursing staff and its association with work commitment.
METHOD The tools used were the questionnaire Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) for the assessment of work engagement and the questionnaire SERVQUAL for quality assessment. A 15-item questionnaire was developed, adapted to the specifics of the study hospital, incorporating the criteria of SERVQUAL, with responses on a five-point Likert scale. The questionnaire was distributed to 118 members of the nursing stuff (response rate was 80.5%, n=95) in July and August 2012. Statistical analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), v. 19.0 included frequencies, percentages, Student t-test, ANOVA one-way, and Spearman correlation coefficient.
RESULTS The nursing staff recorded moderate to high levels on all dimensions of both quality (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy) and work engagement. The females ranked the level of tangibility as a dimension of quality of service lower than the males. Strong correlation was demonstrated between all the dimensions studied.
CONCLUSIONS The positive relationship shown between the work commitment of the nursing staff and the internal quality in their work environment suggests an indirect link with work efficiency. The work commitment of employees is associated with their performance and improvement of the care they provide. Measurement of the work engagement of nursing staff is thus a significant source of information in the health services sector.
Key words: Hospital, Internal quality, Nursing staff, Work engagement.
