Assessing the Internal Environment of Organization from the Perspective of Nursing Community in Selected Hospitals of Isfahan, Iran*

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Lida Shams 1
Golrokh Atighechian 2
Sayed Mohammad Ehsan Farahabadi 3
1 PhD Student, Policy and Disaster and Emergency, School of Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 PhD Student, Policy and Disaster and Emergency, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
3 Health Services Administration, School of Health Management and Medical Informatics, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran (Corresponding Author) Email: e.farahabadi@gmail.com
Abstract
Introduction: Due to the fact that nurses constitute the highest percentage of hospital staff and quality of
health care is largely influenced by their performance, evaluation of the internal environment from their
perspective can greatly indicate the improvement and the strength points of the hospital. This study aimed
to clarify nurses’ view regarding the status of the internal environment component.
Methods: A quantitative-analytical study was carried out in educational, non-educational and private
selected hospitals of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran in 2010. The sampling method was
clustering method and inside the cluster, it was done proportionally. Finally, nurses were selected
randomly. Inclusion criteria were being nurse with bachelor and master degrees. On this basis, the number
of sample was estimated equal to 384. Data were collected using standard questionnaire (Wiseboard
Six-Dimension Box Model) with Cronbach's alpha of 89.7. Data were analyzed using statistical tests such
as Pearson correlation, independent t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Results: Considering the factors included in this study i.e. “purposes”, “structure”, “helpful mechanisms”
“relationships”, “leadership”, “reward mechanism”, the weakness of all the hospitals in the reward
mechanism was revealed (educational hospitals = 22.6, non-educational hospitals = 24.0, private
hospitals = 25.4). The organizational structure was the weakness of non-educational hospitals and also
able to improve in the other studied groups (educational hospitals = 19.88, private hospitals = 19.93).
Conclusion: Systematic approach at the design and development of a fair compensation mechanism with
representatives of staff can have a significant impact on improvement of the current situation of studied
hospitals and also facilitates organization to achieve its goals

Keywords

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Health Information Management
Volume 9, Issue 7
Autumn 2012
Pages 1039-1046