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.

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.

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.

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.

Injury profile and healthcare expenditure of cyclists admitted in intensive care units

Background

The current paper is part of the EU-funded REHABILAID Project and aims to describe the profile of cyclists sustaining severe injuries in a road traffic incident as well as the healthcare costs associated with their injury, including hospitalization costs and out-of-pocket expenditure.

Methods

Seven public hospitals were involved; Greece=5, Italy=1 and Germany=1. Both the intensive care units (ICU) and sub-intensive care units (as high-dependency areas) were involved. Participants enrolled during a 12-month period starting from April 2013 and were followed for one year from admission date. The study used widely recommended classifications for injury severity (AIS-Update 2008, MAIS). Information on the injury was retrieved upon patients’ consent, from medical records while interviews were carried out at months 1,6,12 for personal and cost-related information. Health Care Expenditure was assessed through the MUARC’s framework. Diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) were used to estimate hospitalization costs.

Results

120 subjects enrolled in the study in total and 14 were cyclists(Greece=1, Germany=3, Italy=10). Most of them were men(n = 9, 64.3%), with a mean age of 55.5 years (SD16.3;min 32-max 84). As for the current incidents, the majority occurred at city roads (n = 10;71.4%), straight roads (n = 9;64.3%) and intersections (n = 3;21.4%). Many were single-vehicle (n = 4;28.6%), lateral (n = 4;28.6%) and front-lateral (n = 3;21.4%). Half of the cyclists sustained an injury of MAIS3+ severity (n = 7;50.0%). A major injury was primarily sustained at the lower extremities (n = 10;71.4%), head (n = 7;50.0%), face (5=35.7%) and upper extremities (n = 5;35.7%). The mean total hospitalization cost was 5815,6(min 209,00-max 20.647,00) and the mean direct costs arising from injury was 4.047,5(min 0,0-max 24.670,00).

Conclusions

Individual differences need to be taken into account in future injury prevention efforts as well as in attempts to improve healthcare system’s response to road victims.

Key messages

Systematic collection of data relevant to health condition and economics of the victims is necessary at European level. Personalized rehabilitation plans are necessary to facilitate the recovery process of victims.

The profile of people living in extreme poverty in the region of Crete

Background

The financial crisis of the last decade has increased the number of people living in extreme poverty in Greece. Until today, there is no research evidence on the bio-psycho-social needs of the population. The current study, among other, aimed at investigating the living and working conditions, the health and mental health status of these people and produced recommendations for health care policy and planning.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was carried out in Crete Region with adult beneficiaries of material support benefits (according to income-related criteria). The study was part of the program FAED, which was co-funded by the EU and offered material support (e.g. food, material for personal hygiene, etc. to more than 17.000 beneficiaries in Crete region within 2016-2017. A structured questionnaire extracted information on various aspects including, working, housing and living conditions, health and mental health status.

Results

798 individuals (46.5% male; 43.3 years) consented to participate and completed the questionnaire. Mean time of unemployment was 4.2 years. 26.8% was accommodated by relatives, 23.5% rented a house and 18% lacked heating. Nearly half of the participants reported a chronic disease (47.0%), 24.1% reported disability certified by health authorities. 4.9% had severe alcohol-related problems, 50.6% had mild to severe depression symptoms and 40.3% mild to severe symptoms of anxiety disorder. 12.0% totally lacked a support network for daily practical and emotional issues.

Conclusions

Personal psychosocial needs seem to have been neglected because of complex family needs. Socioeconomic deprivation seems to have exacerbated chronic disease management due to neglect of health care needs. A huge burden of mental diseases is evident necessitating community mental health care.

Key messages

Mapping of bio-psychosocial needs is important for social policy and health care planning. Integrated care is necessary to meet the complex needs of people living in extreme poverty.

Hospitalization costs and estimates of direct and indirect economic losses due to injury sustained in road traffic crashes: Results from a one-year cohort study in three European countries (The REHABILAID project)

Introduction

The financial cost of injuries sustained in road traffic crashes is high for victims, families and national budgets, but there is limited information on the cost of injury from the victims’ perspective, especially in terms of the hard-to-reach multi-trauma patient population such as those admitted to the intensive care units of hospitals.

Materials and methods

The current study received funding by the European Commission Directorate-General Mobility and Transport. It is a prospective, prevalence-based, cost-of-illness study. Participants admitted in the intensive care units of seven public hospitals in Greece, Germany and Italy because of injuries from road traffic crashes, during one year, were enrolled in the study. Patients were followed-up for one year after the intensive care unit admission to report emerging direct and indirect costs related to their injury.

Results

A total of 120 people were enrolled. Males, those aged 25–49, motorcyclists and those severely injured (Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) 3+) with highest severity located at the central part of the body, accounted for the highest percentages of both the direct and indirect injury costs. The highest average direct costs were for females, those aged 50–64, pedestrians and those slightly injured (MAIS 1 or 2) with highest severity at the central region of the body. Males, patients aged 25–49, car passengers and truck drivers as well as those slightly injured (MAIS 1 or 2) with highest severity at multiple locations were over-represented in the average indirect costs.

Conclusions

Those groups that account for a high percentage of injury costs should be targeted in health policy initiatives.

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.

Development and evaluation of a nursing service management and administration information system at district hospital

The rapid development of information technology and the multiple usage of Information Systems make indisputable their appliance in all the sectors including the Nursing Service area. Information Systems that have been developed for the Nursing Service Administration are extremely useful in the processing and the categorisation of a large number of information, providing significant advantages such as information storage, information availability, information precision and reliability. In addition, the appliance of Information Systems provides important advantages in the administration of the nursing personnel's data, contributing to the improvement of the operating effectiveness of the Nursing Service. This paper describes the development and the evaluation of an Information System for the Nursing Service Administration that classifies all the information related to the nursing personnel and helps the administration to handle the appropriate nursing data. The method of Life Cycle Model was decided as the most appropriate for the development of the System, because of the important advantages that it offers. For the evaluation of our own designed system we based on the standards, which are used for evaluating Information Systems in general. The evaluation of this Information System is carried out by a survey among the undergraduate and the postgraduate students of the Nursing Department of the University of Athens and the Nursing Personnel of a number of Hospitals. Useful conclusions have been derived concerning those characteristics, which should be fulfilled by the system. Important conclusions have been also drown out concerning the dependencies of the variables under study, the future readjustments of the system, and the general perception of the newcomers in health profession towards the application of the information technology.