Evaluating the Outsourcing of Nursing Services in Kashani Hospital, Isfahan, Iran*

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Masoud Ferdosi 1
Sayed Mohammad Ehsan Farahabadi 2
Maryam Mofid 3
Farzaneh Rejalian 4
Maryam Haghighat 5
Parnaz Naghdi 6
1 Assistant Professor, Health Services Management, Health Management and Economic Research Center, School of Health Management and Medical Informatics, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
2 Health Services Management, School of Health Management and Medical Informatics, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran (Corresponding Author) Email: e.farahabadi@gmail.com
3 Health Services Management, School of Health Management and Medical Informatics, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
4 MSc Student, Health Services Management, School of Management and Medical Information, Yazd University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran
5 Business Administration, School of Management, Payame Nour University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
6 Information Technology Management, School of Management, Payame Nour University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: Hospitals are required to focus on core activities which are inevitable affair. The sensitivity
of the monitoring and supervision mechanism as well as preserving and enhancing the quality of
outsourced services prevent new problems in this area.
Methods: This was a descriptive and applied study which was done by case study (pretest-posttest)
method. Outsourcing nursing services of clinical wards (ENT and surgery) of Kashani Hospital was
studied. Data were extracted from the questionnaire (internal customer's satisfaction), semi-structured
interviews with officials and also survey of financial and administrative documents as well as records
related to the topic. The validity of thee questionnaire was approved using the standard form of the
satisfaction in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran and its reliability was based on calculating
Cronbach’s alpha.
Results: The findings indicated an increased number of graduate nurses per bed to fulfill the main goal of
outsourcing. However, achieving this goal was accompanied with increasing costs per bed and resulted in
increased total costs of the hospital after outsourcing. In addition, the intangible changes in internal
customer satisfaction with the performance of non-governmental sector have been achieved.
Conclusion: While outsourcing should bring about staff and patients' satisfaction and increase the
efficiency and effectiveness, outsourcing nursing workforce strategy led to severe loss of efficiency.
Therefore, the adopted strategy did not meet the productivity for the hospital

Keywords

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Health Information Management
Volume 9, Issue 7
Autumn 2012
Pages 989-996