International Journal Of Occupational Health and Public Health Nursing

Continuing Education and Development Opportunities in Greek Hospitals: Comparison of Perspectives between Nurses and other Health Professionals

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• Abstract

  Important strategic instruments for improving quality that provide solutions to the demanding problems of health care delivery include evidence-based practice and professional education and development. The present study aims to explore the existing organizational climate - in terms of clinical governance’ factor «Continuing Education and Development Opportunities» - in the hospital sector in Greece. In particular, it compares nurses’ perceptions with those of other health professionals concerning the particular factor. It also explores the influence of hospitals’ legal status and demographic and professional characteristics of the participants on the particular subject. It is a cross-sectional study, including all employees working in two Greek hospitals. 479 hospital workers (response rate: 79%) completed, validated in the present study, Clinical Governance Climate Questionnaire (CGCQ). The collection of survey data took place from May to August 2012. The results of our study suggest that the Hospitals’ climate was not supportive to «Continuing Education and Development Opportunities» in the hospitals involved in the study. Nurses in particular appear to have a more negative perception of the climate related to: i) training in searching for research evidence, ii) the presence of clear organizational vision and goals, iii) the presence of a “just” culture and iv) presence of adequate support to deliver service changes The two-tailed significance level was set equal or less than 0.05.