Quality Management System and Work Environment in a Medical Center

Abstract

Background. The work environment represents the environment where employees perform their duties, complete the set tasks. This environment involves a variety of factors (sanitation, hygiene, organizational, psychological, etc.). According to the ISO 9001:2015 requirements, the organization must identify, create, provide and maintain the environment for the operation of the processes, as well as to establish, implement, maintain and continuously improve the work environment. Therefore, employees envisage of the work environment is an important source of information for the quality management system, aimed at improving the customers’ satisfaction.Aim. To study the opinion of the personnel about the work environment of the tertiary cardiovascular healthcare center.Methods. The object of the study is the working environment of the medical institution, the subject of the research is the factors constituting the work environment. The sampling unit is the employee. The study was performed in the Research Institute for Complex Issues of Cardiovascular Diseases. The research was carried out according to the original questionnaire by the method of sociological survey of personnel. All the subjects were interviewed using the original questionnaire. The questionnaire is divided into several domains including employment terms, mental health and psychological climate, duties and work management.Results. The gaps limiting the formation of the positive work environment have been determined after the baseline survey. 21.6% of the employees were not satisfed with the working conditions in general, and 27.1% – with the labor organization. 32.3% of the employees pointed low team cohesion, and 28.6% of the respondents indicated low organization cohesion. The statistically signifcant changes in the personnel responses to the most of the factors constituting the work environment have been traced followed the targeted activities carried out over several years. Thus, the proportion of positive answers on the compliance of the workplace with hygiene requirements (by 9.3%) and on the comfort of being at the workplace (by 13.9%) increased. The number of the employees satisfed with working conditions increased (by 9.8%). The proportion of employees satisfed with labour management, their duties and tasks improved as well. The development of the personnel-oriented management in the organization is associated with the tendency towards the team cohesion in the center’s divisions. However, the satisfaction of the personnel with the relations in the team remained similar as in 2012.Conclusion. The study reports the opinion of the healthcare personnel on the work environment and forms the basis for the further improvements and implementation of the personnel-oriented management system.