A comparative study on healthcare employee satisfaction between Japan and China

Medical disputes and patient satisfaction in China: How does hospital management matter?

OBJECTIVE

Satisfaction with healthcare may be captured by surveys of patients and staff, or in extreme cases, the number and severity of medical disputes. This study tries to investigate the relationship between satisfaction and hospital management as well as the role of good management in preventing medical disputes ex ante.

METHOD

We investigate this relationship using information on management practices collected from 510 hospitals in mainland China using the World Management Survey questionnaire and combined with medical malpractice litigation data and patient/staff satisfaction surveys. Multiple regression models were used to analyse the relationship between hospital management scores and medical litigation outcomes as well as patient and staff satisfaction during 2014-2016.

RESULTS

An increase of one standard deviation in the management score was related to 13.1% (p < 0.10) lower incidence of medical disputes, 12.4% (p < 0.05) fewer medical litigations, and 51.3% (p < 0.10) less compensation. Better management quality of hospitals was associated with higher inpatient satisfaction (p < 0.05) and staff well-being (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Improving hospital management could reduce hospital costs generated by lawsuits, reduce potential harm to patients, and improve patient and staff satisfaction, thus leading to a better patient-physician relationship.

The Impacts of Disclosure and a Proactive Compensation Offer on Chinese Patients' Actions After Medical Errors

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to obtain evidence of the impacts of error disclosure and the impacts of a proactive compensation offer on Chinese patients' actions after medical errors.

METHODS

A total of 915 responses were collected from a questionnaire survey. Two fictitious cases (entailed moderate and severe harm) that involved error disclosure were described. One of 5 disclosure and compensation types was randomly provided to each participant. The 5 types were combinations of 3 disclosure types (no disclosure, partial disclosure, and full disclosure) and 2 proactive compensation offer categories (no offer and an offer), with the exception of no disclosure but a proactive compensation offer. The respondents were asked about their willingness to take actions if they were the affected patient.

RESULTS

The generalized ordinal logit regression model showed that error disclosure did not increase the likelihood of the patients taking action, such as changing physicians, complaining, or filing lawsuits. A proactive compensation offer decreased the patients' willingness to file lawsuits but had no significant influence on the other action choices. In addition, the patients' actions were affected by other factors, such as the severity of the error, age, sex, education level, being religious, prior error experience, and health insurance.

CONCLUSIONS

We suggest that "disclosure and compensation" programs are developed in China. To ensure their implementation, it is recommended that appropriate training is provided and that the disclosure culture in health care organizations is improved. Furthermore, laws or regulations are required that govern error disclosure and provide support for health care professionals and organizations.

Medical Error Disclosure: Developing Evidence-Based Guidelines for Chinese Hospitals

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to investigate Chinese individuals' expectations regarding the disclosure of errors that vary in level of harm severity and to develop guidelines for error disclosure.

METHODS

A total of 947 valid responses were collected from a questionnaire survey in 2019, and 220 respondents or their family members had experienced medical errors. The respondents were required to indicate their preferences regarding the disclosure of errors that entail moderate and severe harm. Based on their responses and interviews conducted with several patient safety managers, guidelines for medical error disclosure were developed.

RESULTS

Similar preferences were reported for the disclosure of errors that entail moderate and severe harm. They expected a formal disclosure. Furthermore, they wished to be informed about the error through face-to-face communication in a meeting room immediately after error detection. Moreover, they wanted to be provided with all details about the incident. The health care provider who was involved in the incident, the leader of his/her department/team, the patient safety manager, and top management member were expected to attend the meeting. However, there was a significant difference in who was expected to disclose errors that entail moderate (i.e., the health care provider involved in the incident) and severe (i.e., the leader, top management member) harm.

CONCLUSIONS

Medical error disclosure is not commonly practiced in Chinese hospitals. Therefore, the proposed guidelines could be the first step toward disclosure supporting. In addition, the present findings underscore the importance of cultural sensitivity and error severity in international error disclosure research and practice.

Job Satisfaction among Swedish Pharmacists

Understanding the role of pharmacists’ job satisfaction is important because a lack of job satisfaction might have negative impacts on patient care and safety. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore and compare job satisfaction among pharmacists graduating from the pharmacy programs at Umeå University, Sweden. Data concerning job satisfaction and associated factors were collected using an alumni survey conducted among pharmacists graduating between 2015 and 2018. Ethical committee approval is not required for this type of study in Sweden. A majority (92.6%) of the pharmacy graduates were female. A majority of the graduates (91.4%) were satisfied with their job most of the time or all of the time, which was similar to a previous investigation among pharmacists graduating between 2006 and 2014. High access to continuous professional development (CPD) was associated with higher job satisfaction (odds ratio (OR): 18.717 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.685–207.871)). In total, 65.6% considered access to CPD to be high (i.e., satisfactory to very good). Variables like gender, age, employee category, workplace, years since graduation, and income did not affect job satisfaction. Knowledge regarding job satisfaction will enable employers to respond to employees’ needs, decrease turnover, and improve the work environment.