An Analysis of Policies of the Iranian Health Care System in Relation to the Nursing Profession

The present study was a part of the findings of a qualitative thematic content analysis aimed at elucidating the role and position of nursing from the viewpoint of the managers of the Iranian health care system. The theme of inappropriate policies of the health care system, which was extracted in the analysis, was evaluated in this research. The results of this study are part of an effort to develop the nursing education model based on the determination of the role and position of nursing in the health care system.
In this study, qualitative thematic content analysis was used. Through purposive sampling, 6 managers and experts in the health care system were selected as participants. The structured interview was used for data collection.
In relation to the theme of inappropriate health care policy in relation to the nursing profession, a total of 5 categories and 14 subcategories were extracted.
The Iranian health care system has witnessed profound changes in the last decade. However, it is faced with many challenges in the subsystem of nursing. Iran's health care policy in relation to the nursing profession is inadequate. It seems that the lack of dialogue between nursing and other health care institutions, unwillingness of these institutions to recognize nursing, and lack of involvement of nurses in policies because of conflicts of interest are effective factors in this regard. Uncertainty about the scope of services in the field of nursing care, training of disciplines parallel with nursing, non-discrimination in the provision of services within nursing, incompatibility of nursing services and payment, lack of attention of the health care system to the importance of nursing services, and placing professional nursing responsibilities as second priority in comparison with nonprofessional and unrelated responsibilities such as accreditation were the findings of this analysis.