Factors Affecting the Satisfaction of Healthcare Workers with the Healthcare System Reform Plan in Healthcare Networks in Bushehr Province in 2018: A Qualitative Study

Evaluating and identifying existing challenges of the healthcare system reform plan can help policy makers and executives address these shortcomings and achieve the goals of the plan. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the satisfaction of health network employees with healthcare reform plan in Bushehr province.

This qualitative study was conducted using conventional content analysis and purposeful sampling in Bushehr province in 2018. The participants were selected from all levels of the health network in the province, and were interviewed with semi-structured questions in focused group discussions until data saturation. After the interviews were completed, all interviews were coded according to the conventional content analysis, and themes were extracted.

The results of eight focus group discussions with 54 participants were analyzed, and 1501 initial codes were extracted. The main theme of the study was "Satisfaction with the Reform Plan", consisting of two main categories of internal factors (with subcategories of nature of work, professional capabilities, appreciation and respect, independence and freedom at work, development of professional skills and physical burden, family and emotions) and external factors (with subcategories of management and planning, supervision, income, interdepartment and intradepartmen relations, infrastructure, occupational and organizational stability, and beneficiaries).

The results led to identification of internal and external factors that affect health network employees’ satisfaction with healthcare reform plan. A future study designed based on these results can eliminate the deficiencies of the healthcare reform plan, and lay the ground for employees’ higher satisfaction, and consequently providing higher quality healthcare services to clients.