Globally, nursing education has moved from a hospital-based education to a university-based
education. Though this change resulted in the improvement of the quality of nurses it has also
presented its own challenges. Clinical education, one of the major components of nursing
education, was adversely affected by the reduction in the amount of time and the quality of
clinical placements. In order to combat these challenges, innovative models on clinical
education were developed with the objective to produce nurses that can deliver quality care to
patients in an evolving health sector.

Development of a clinical nursing education model for Nigerian universities

Against the background of a thorough specialization, any professional, no matter his/her specialization, has to build around and for himself strong integrated and marketing campaigns, which should shed light on him/her and make him/her eligible for the consumers of services from his/her area of specialization. The personal brand is what a person wishes to do in order for him/her to escape the anonymity of his/her profession, to become visible in a certain circle or for a particular cause. The cover is important, but the content is essential, as it is the one that gives the final touch to the product and/or services. As regards the medical field, the evolution of the medical system in Romania and, even more so, the existence of private medical services are factors against which the imposing app, the reputation, the fame of a doctor work as an elegant and outstanding label placed in front of the consumers. Unlike other types of services, medical services, including doctors, no matter their specialization, have that particular feature of being evaluated by the consumers only from the point of view of perception, few of them having the necessary competences to make an objective assessment.

The Importance of the Professional Personal Brand. The Doctors’Personal Brand

Purpose To explore patient safety culture among Romanian staff, using the U.S. Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC). Material and methods A cross-sectional study was carried out in six hospitals, located in four Romanian regions (Craiova, Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest and Brasov), based on staff census in the Units/hospitals which volunteered to participate in the study (N=1,184). The response rate was 84%. The original questionnaire designed by the American Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality was translated into Romanian (with back translation), pre-tested before application and psychometrically checked. It consists of 42 questions grouped in 12categories, covering multiple aspects of patient safety culture (dimensions). Percentages of positive responses (PPRs) by question and category were analyzed overall and by staff profession. Results Most respondents were nurses (69%). The main work areas were surgery (24%) and medicine (22%). The highest PPRs were for Supervisor/Manager Expectations & Actions Promoting Safety (88%), Teamwork Within Units (86%), Handoffs and Transitions (84%), Organizational Learning-Continuous Improvement (81%), Overall Perceptions of Safety (80%), Feedback & Communication About Error (75%). The lowest PPRs were for: Staffing (39%), Frequency of Events Reported (59%) and Non-punitive Response to Errors (61%). Nurses exhibited significantly higher PPRs than doctors. Conclusions This small-scale study of staff's attitude towards patient safety in Romanian hospitals suggests that there is room for future improvement, especially within the doctor category. Further research should assess the relationship between patient safety culture and frequency of adverse events.

Measuring Patient Safety Culture in Romania Using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC).

In Romania, the level of knowledge in terms of hospital quality processes is quite low. The project "Regional Centers of Excellence for Performance Improvement Processes in Health Care System in Romania" has proposed, as a first step to configure the present quality of hospital processes, seen from the perspective of decision makers and professionals of health. The project is focused on the implementation of innovative concepts for optimization of hospital processes by developing skills in quality management, performance and efficiency of health services of the medical and managerial staff from hospitals in three regions in Romania, as well as implementation of improvement projects. By this project in addition to the research stage, important steps have been made to introduce an innovative methodology - Lean Six Sigma tool in hospitals from Romania, through a training program for the managers and specialists from hospitals in order to identify the processes that they are carrying out, the problems they are facing and to find and apply solutions with the help of small or large-scale projects. We hope that this steps will open a new perspective, will bring a new mind setting for the staff and the new approaches based on activity optimization to be an important part of the hospital practice and activity in Romania. Key words: processes, hospital actyivity, quality, Romania

Carmen Angheluță

Papers

Study on quality processes in hospitals from the perspective of decision-makers and health professionals