Motivating hospital personnel for excellence in a rough environment

Work motivation and satisfaction are core performance factors, of a broad complexity in healthcare. In spite of all economic, political, administrative, regulatory or bureaucratic adversities, there are public Romanian hospitals striving to perform at European level. Medical personnel dissatisfaction, and shortage due to migration are significant challenges for managers. Methodology: the main research question is whether motivation is a key factor in a public Romanian hospital oriented to clinical excellence, reflected by retention of medical staff and their professional satisfaction, and also perceived by their patients. Purpose: to analyze importance and level of job satisfaction of hospital personnel in relation with other motivation components given the rough environment of Romanian public healthcare system, and its reflection on patient satisfaction. The paper is based on two studies: professional satisfaction survey conducted among all 350 employees of the Clinical Hospital “St. Maria” Bucharest accredited for liver transplantation and achieving great clinical performance, based on a 21-questions semi-structured questionnaire. Second, a patient satisfaction survey conducted on a sample of 75 patients randomly selected from all 5 hospital departments, out of an average of approximately 230 patients per week, by applying on discharge day a questionnaire of 30 questions. Results: Great majority of our personnel appreciated as appropriate: their working conditions, communication and relationship with hierarchic boss and with hospital management team. 84.6% of medical and 90.5% of nonmedical personnel declared to be professionally very satisfied and satisfied in this hospital. Patient satisfaction analysis indicated that almost all respondents were informed by medical personnel about their conditions and rights, receiving explanations about treatment; 90% considered care received at a very good quality, except for food; 90.2% of respondents rated as very good the personnel kindness, availability, communication, information and care; 67,2% of patients stated as very satisfied and 23% satisfied with the medical care received, and all respondents would choose this hospital again if needed and even would recommend it to others. Conclusion: Anticipating their needs and motivating hospital personnel to achieve high performance is of great importance for managers and employees, by focusing on people and using appropriate tools even when no direct financial incentives are possible. Professional satisfaction has to be periodically measured, correlated with patient surveys and followed by specific actions for improvement and kept high, thus allowing climbing up to the best hospitals in Bucharest, despite significant challenges within Romanian public healthcare system. Our analysis showed the importance of job motivation and satisfaction in public hospitals, despite the rough environment, and reflection of work satisfaction on employees-patients relationship in terms of availability, communication, providing information and feedback, care, and choice/preference for future services. Thus, our research objectives were fulfilled.