Journal of

Background and Aim: Over the past decade, the number of private centers providing health care services in Iran has had a continuous growth and the highly competitive market in private hospitals industry has caused increasing pressure on them to provide services with a higher quality. The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of services being provided in private hospitals of Tehran as judged by patients.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2010 in Tehran. The study sample comprised 983 patients, randomly selected from 8 private hospitals. The survey instrument was the standard SERVQUAL questionnaire. Wilcoxon, t-test, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for statistical analyses.

Results: The total mean scores of patients' expectation and perception were 4.92 and 4.02, respectively. The highest figures were related to the tangible factors dimension and the lowest ones to the empathy dimension. The differences between the perception and expectation for all the 22 items and the 5 dimensions were found to be statistically significant(p< 0.001).

Conclusion: SERVQUAL is valid and reliable in hospital settings as a standard tool for the assessment of quality. The results of the present study have revealed the areas that need to be improved as far as the patients are concerned. Measuring the opinion of patients can help facilitate the provision of hospital services, and improve the quality of such services and patients' satisfaction.

Background and Aim : Nurses' perception of spirituality can affect the way they behave and communicate with patients in line with spiritual care provision. The present study aims to investigate nurses' perception , capability, and adequacy of training about spirituality and spiritual care in Genaveh hospitals affiliated to Bushehr University of Medical Sciences (BUMS) .

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed among 111 nurses working in BUMS hospitals in 2013. The spirituality and spiritual care scale (SSCRS) was used for data collection, which explores nine aspects of spirituality and spiritual care. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. 

Results: The overall spirituality and spiritual care was 3.86 (out of 5). Among the nine aspects of need for spirituality, belief in God had the highest mean score, and beliefs and values had the least mean values. About 78.7 % of the participants were confronted with the patients' spiritual needs. Meanwhile, 74.6 % of them noted that the current training about spiritual care was not sufficient .

Conclusion: Although most participants were able to meet the patients' spiritual needs, most of the nurses did not know enough about the issues related to spiritual care. Therefore, inclusion of spiritual care in nursing curriculum and holding workshops and training courses in this area can be useful.

Background and Aim: Today, customer perception assessment as a way to measure satisfaction and expectations has an important role in improving the quality of services and organizational excellence. This study aims to measure customers’ perception at the Health Deputy of Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME).

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2012-2013. The population comprised the health deputies of medical universities, among which 13 of the universities were randomly selected. As the main customers of MOHME health deputy, these universities’ managers and experts were asked questions like a census. The data collection device was the national award standard questionnaire consisting of 2 sections and 26 questions. The data were analyzed by SPSS 18 with level.

Results: Of the 267 managers and experts, 147 (56.1%) were male. Many of them (57.3%) had a bachelor's degree. Most of them (91.6%) were employed in technical units. The average perceived level of managers and experts regarding their reputation and image was 3.3±0.7, production and service 3.1±0.7, support while and after providing services 3.0±0.7, and loyalty and honesty 3.3±0.8 out of a maximum 5 points, respectively. There was no significant relationship between administrators and experts’ perception level on the one hand, and individual and organizational factors on the other (P>0.05).

Conclusion: The study showed that customers’ perception of indices related to the quality of relationships, services and measures was at a moderate level. Therefore, it is recommended that the department of health should design and implement an appropriate intervention program for organizational excellence.

Background and Aim: To fulfill its mission, the health system needs reform in various sectors including supervisory areas. That is because the quality of supervision can have various consequences such as increase or decrease of innovative self-efficacy through various factors. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explain the mediator role of perception of organizational justice in the relationship between abusive supervision and innovative self-efficacy.
Materials and Methods: This is a correlational descriptive-analytical study. The sample included 225 employees of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, who were selected through random sampling. The research instruments were questionnaires of abusive supervision, innovative self-efficacy and perception of organizational justice, which were distributed among the sample after calculating their reliability and validity. 
Results: The results showed that abusive supervision had a significant negative impact on the perception of organizational justice and employee’s innovative self-efficacy. Also, the perception of distributive justice has a significant positive impact on innovative self-efficacy and a mediation role in the relationship between abusive supervision and innovative self-efficacy.
Conclusion: In order to enjoy innovation, health-oriented organizations should reduce abusive supervision in managers’ and supervisors’ behavior; therefore, with the increase of employees’ feeling of innovative self-efficacy, they can lead to the realization of the mission of these organizations.