Quality over quantity - development of communicative and social competence in dentistry at the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg

Talent management and job satisfaction of medical personnel in Polish healthcare entities

Background

There is a mass exodus of qualified medical personnel in countries such as Poland. As a result, it is becoming increasingly important to study the satisfaction of medical personnel employed in public healthcare entities and the factors influencing this satisfaction. One such factor is the quality of talent management.

Purpose

The study aimed to assess the quality of talent management in Polish healthcare entities and its impact on the job satisfaction of medical personnel. The study also considered the impact of other demographic, organizational and behavioral factors on medical personnel satisfaction, such as social competencies, job mobility, orientation toward the patient, gender and education stage.

Methods

A questionnaire for healthcare professionals was used to collect data. A total of 747 respondents (506 defined as medical talent) participated in the survey. A 5-point Likert scale was adopted to assess job satisfaction and talent management practices. Reliability analysis was conducted to investigate the properties of this scale and the items that comprise it. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling.

Results

The survey showed that the quality of talent management in Polish healthcare institutions is not well assessed. Professional satisfaction of medical personnel working in Polish public healthcare entities depends mainly on talent management measured by talent motivation, talent development, employee appraisal and organizational culture. Among the factors that have a positive but smaller impact on job satisfaction are job mobility and the education stage. The impact of gender, patient orientation and social competence had the smallest but most significant impact on job satisfaction.

Conclusion

Healthcare organizations should improve their talent management strategy to meet healthcare professionals' current and future demands and improve their job satisfaction.

Level of Social Competencies of Nurses in Primary Healthcare and their Selected Work Related Determinants - a cross-sectional study

AIM

The aim of our study was to assess the level of social competencies among primary healthcare nurses, and to identify the work-related determinants.

BACKGROUND

Developing social skills of nurses are necessary to establish better relations with patients. Improving these skills allows for higher quality of patient care, as well as patient and nurse satisfaction.

METHODS

For the study, 253 Primary Healthcare Centers were randomly chosen in the Eastern Poland. 600 questionnaires were sent to the nurses employed in these facilities. After checking whether the data met the requirements, 446 nurses took part in the survey. The data were collected using the Social Competencies Profile; the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire and the Catalog of primary healthcare nurse activities.

RESULTS

Older nurses possess lower level of social skills (r=-0.10, p=0.04). Postgraduate education in the last two years differentiated the results of social competencies (p=0.03) as well as place of residence in the subscale community awareness (p=0.04). The predictors of social skills among psychosocial work conditions were: Influence at Work (p=0.02), Possibilities for Development (p<0.001), Meaning of Work (p<0.001), Social Support (p=0.001), Quality of Leadership (p=0.03), Job Satisfaction (p<0.001) and General Health (p=0.001). On the other hand, tasks like: Activities in the treatment room (p=0.003) and Promotion and prevention (p<0.001) carried out by a nurse anticipated higher level of social skills.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the research proved that work-related factors such as: influence at work, professional development, sense of social support, understanding of the meaning of work, perception of the quality of leadership and higher job satisfaction influence the development of social competencies of nurses, therefore, shaping an appropriate work environment is an important task, especially for leaders and managers of nursing.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

We recommend that nursing leaders and health policy makers adopt new strategies and educational programs which include social skills training as part of the curriculum for the development of the social competencies of nurses.