Promoting organizational vision integration among hospital employees

Background The concept of organizational vision has been little explored in the health-care services research literature. To address this knowledge gap in the literature, the present study examines the factors that may promote organizational vision integration (OVI), which refers to the employees’ use of organizational vision as a guiding framework in their work. The roles of organizational commitment (OC), leadership autonomy support (LAS), and organizational culture in relation to hospital employees’ OVI are examined. Methods Hospital employees were surveyed. Partial least-squares structural equation modeling was performed using SmartPLS 3 software to test the proposed hypotheses statistically. A bootstrapping test was used to identify the mediating effects. Results The main findings show that: (i) OC is the most powerful factor in promoting employees’ OVI (β = 0.26), while organizational culture (represented by the concept of internal market-oriented culture) and LAS showed significantly less and almost equal impact (β = 0.16 and β = 0.15, respectively). In total, OC, organizational culture and LAS explain 25% of the variance in the concept of OVI. (ii) LAS and organizational culture both significantly contribute to employees’ OC (β = 0.35 and β = 0.29, respectively) and in total explain nearly 40% (R2 = 0.38) of the variance in the concept of OC. (iii) The relationships between organizational culture, LAS, and OVI are mediated through OC, and (iv) LAS mediates the relationship between organizational culture and OVI, and that between organizational culture and OC. Conclusions To promote hospital employees’ OVI effectively, hospital managers should focus particularly on their employees’ OC. Specifically, they should strengthen their employees’ OC through building a strong employee-focused organizational culture and ensuring that leaders practice LAS. This contributes to promoting hospital employees’ OVI.

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in hospital employees, Central Germany

Objectives Unidentified SARS-CoV-2 infections among hospital staff can become a major burden for healthcare systems worldwide. We hypothesized that the number of previous SARS-CoV-2 infections among hospital employees is substantially higher than known on the basis of direct testing strategies. A serological study was thus performed among staff of Marburg University Hospital, Germany, in May and June 2020. Methods Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers were measured by spike protein (S1)-specific IgG ELISA (Euroimmun) and by nucleoprotein-(NCP) specific total antibody CLIA (Roche). Selected sera were analyzed by SARS-CoV-2 neutralization test. Participants provided questionnaires regarding occupational, medical, and clinical items. Data for 3,623 individuals (74.7% of all employees) were collected. Results Individuals reactive to both S1 and NCP were defined as seropositive; all of those were confirmed by neutralization test (n=13). Eighty-nine samples were reactive in only one assay, and 3,521 were seronegative. The seroprevalence among hospital employees at Marburg University Hospital was 0.36% (13/3,623). Only five of the 13 seropositive employees had reported a positive SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test result. Conclusions Usage of a single S1-specific assay highly overestimated seroprevalence. The data provided no evidence for an increased risk for a SARS-CoV-2 infection for staff involved in patient care compared to staff not involved in patient care.

Analysis Work Pressure of Hospital Employees During the Covid-19 Pandemic Study of Hospitals in Indonesia

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a very significant impact on every area of ​​the organization, especially the health sector, especially hospitals. One of the impacts experienced is the work pressure felt by hospital employees. This study aims to analyze the work pressure experienced by hospital employees during the covid-19 pandemic which was obtained from the type of work and stressor factors that influenced it. This type of research was quantitative with a cross sectional approach. The sample of this study was 120 employees at Hospital "X" in Indonesia. The sampling technique is probability sampling with random sampling method. Univariate analysis test was used to see the distribution of frequency and percentage of each variable and bivariate analysis with chi-square test to determine the relationship between variables (p value <0.05). It was found that the type of employee's work was significantly related to the employee's work pressure. Then an analysis of the level of work pressure is carried out with the influencing work pressure stressor. Based on the Spearman Correlation Test, a correlation value of 0.589 with a sig value of 0.000 means that the sig value is smaller than 0.05 (0.000 <0.05) indicating that there is a significant effect between stressor and work pressure at Hospital "X". The cause of high work pressure from this type of work is the demands of the organization in relation to the high role of tasks, especially medical personnel, which increases during the pandemic. Then the stressor factors that influence are role overload, role conflict and role ambiguity caused by the demands of the duties and roles of employees, poor communication, and lack of direct guidance from the leadership on the tasks and regulations given.

Wearing religious symbols at work in the ECtHR’s judgments

Freedom of speech and freedom of conscience and religion are essential human rights which are protected, among others, by the ECHR. The number of the European Court of Human Rights’ decisions on wearing religious symbols (in a form of a Christian cross, a Muslim veil or a headscarf) at work remains small. Nevertheless, some interpretation guidelines can be identified in particular on how to ensure that an interference with Article 9 of the 1950 Convention has to be proportionate and “necessary in a democratic society”. Owing to a lack of European-wide consensus on states’ approach to religion, a state exercises a wide margin of appreciation. Nevertheless, a state always has to take into account rights of the others, in particular those who are dependent on (e.g. patience at hospital) employees or are prone to an impact of employees (e.g. pupils and students). Thus, dress codes confirming a secular nature and religious neutrality of a State not always violates Article 9 of the ECHR. Rules apply mainly to public bodies, but a state liability may also be found to private company’s cases. Details of each employment contract and of the employee’s conduct have to be always analysed. The dress code rules applied to man and women and irrespective to their religion, so the Court has not declared it to be discriminatory because of sex or religion of employees.

Prevalence and health correlates of workplace violence and discrimination – a cross-sectional study among hospital employees in Switzerland

BackgroundViolence and discrimination are common events at work, especially in the health care setting. Nevertheless, comprehensive data on their prevalence and health correlates among the entirety of hospital staff is missing. Thisstudy aimed to estimate the prevalence of different self-reported forms of workplace violence and discrimination among hospital employees in Switzerland and to investigate the association between such experiences at work and the general and mental health status. MethodsThis cross-sectional study was based on secondary data from a company survey among five public hospitals and rehabilitation clinics in German-speaking Switzerland conducted in 2015/16 (N = 1,567). Relative frequencies of different forms of violence and discrimination at work were calculated for the entire study population and for the occupational subgroups. These prevalence data were compared with a representative sample of the general Swiss working population as a reference group. Multiple logistic regression analyses were further computed to investigate the association between the number of different experienced forms of violence and/or discrimination at work and several poor general and mental health outcomes (poor self-rated health, sleep disorders, psychological stress, mental problem, burnout). Results23% of hospital employees experienced at least one form of discrimination or violence at work in the past year, compared to 18% of the general working population. Nurses and midwives were by far the most affected occupational group regarding all forms of violence. More and particularly most exposed hospital employees with regard to experiences of violence and/or discrimination at work showed almost consistently increased prevalence rates and odds ratios for the studied poor mental and general health outcomes. Prevalence rates and adjusted odds ratios for strong sleep disorders, strong stress feelings and increased burnout symptoms were between three and four times higher among the most exposed compared to those hospital employees who did not make any of these experiences at work at all. ConclusionsStudy findings underline the importance of an active combat against violent and discriminatory behaviors in health care. Prevention strategies should particularly focus on nurses and midwives, which turned out to be the most affected and exposed group of all health professions.

A mixed methods analysis of the magnitude and associated factors of time management practice among primary hospital employees in North Gondar, Ethiopia

Time management contributes to work efficiency, maintaining balance, and job satisfaction by promoting productivity and success. Most people believe they have so much to do and not enough time, and they attribute their unmet expectations, poor results, and low productivity to a lack of time. The aim of this study was to determine the magnitude and associated factors of time management practice among primary hospital employees in North Gondar, Ethiopia.From March 15 to April 28, 2017, a hospital-based cross-sectional mixed methods (both quantitative and qualitative) study design was conducted in North Gondar Zone. For the quantitative part, pre-tested, standardized questionnaires; as well as an interviewer guide for the qualitative part of the study were used for data collection. Using a random sampling technique, 391 employees were completed the questionnaires. A multivariate and bi-variate logistic regression analysis at AOR with a 95% CI and a p-value of < 0.5 were used to identify significant factors of the study. For qualitative data, thematic content analysis was performed. A total of 391 participants (a response rate of 92.6%) took part in the study. The number of participants who practice time management was 56.4% (95% CI: 49.3%, 61.7%). Organizational policies (AOR: 2.16; 95% CI: 1.02, 4.68), performance appraisal systems (AOR: 2.11; 95% CI: 1.32, 4.66), compensation and benefits system (AOR: 4.18; 95% CI: 2.18, 7.99), employee planning experience (AOR: 2.86; 95% CI: 1.42, 5.75), and residence (AOR: 2.08; 95% CI: 1.08, 4.01) were found predictors of time management practice among primary hospital employees. Overall, there was a moderate level of time management practice in the study area. Significant factors found were organizational policies, compensation and benefits packages, performance appraisal systems, planning experience, and residency. Therefore, managers need to develop an intervention to address all the above factors in order to improve time management practice of primary hospital employees at work.

COVID-19 screening system utilizing daily symptom attestation helps identify hospital employees who should be tested to protect patients and co-workers

ABSTRACT Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of a daily attestation system used by employees of a multi-institutional academic medical center, which comprised of symptom-screening, self-referrals to the Occupational Health team, and/or a COVID-19 test. Design: Retrospective cohort study of all employee attestations and COVID-19 tests performed between March and June 2020. Setting: A large multi-institutional academic medical center, including both inpatient and ambulatory settings. Participants: All employees who worked at the study site. Methods: Data was combined from the attestation system (COVIDPass), the employee database, and the electronic health records, and was analyzed using descriptive statistics including chi-squared, Wilcoxon, and Kruskal-Wallis tests. We investigated whether an association existed between symptomatic attestations by the employees and them testing positive for COVID-19. Results: After data linkage and cleaning, there were 2,117,298 attestations submitted by 65,422 employees between March and June 2020. Most attestations were asymptomatic (99.9%). The most commonly reported symptoms were sore throat (910), runny nose (637), and cough (570). Of the 2,026 employees who ever attested symptomatic, 905 employees were tested within 14 days of a symptomatic attestation, and 114 (13%) of these tests were positive. The most common symptoms associated with a positive COVID-19 test were anosmia (23% vs 4%) and fever (46% vs 19%). Conclusions: Daily symptom attestations amongst healthcare workers identified a handful of employees with Covid-19. While the number of positives was low, attestations may help keep unwell employees off campus to try to prevent transmissions.