Abstracto

Exploring characteristics and perceptions of private hospital physician managers regarding their management training needs

Mohammed Mahmoud Al-Momani

Introduction: Recently, the role of physician manager has widely expanded and become more commercially competitive. This study aimed to explore the management characteristics and perceptions of physician managers of private hospitals in Jordan regarding their managerial training needs.

Material and Methods: Data for this study were collected from a random sample of 227 physicians working in management positions in different health care organisations in the private sector in Amman, Jordan using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire comprising five parts derived from information obtained from other relevant studies to collect demographic and management characteristics of respondents, physicians’ management competencies, training needs, reasons for moving to management position, and the preferred learning methods.

Results: The findings of study found none of respondents had a formal degree in management of any kind, and none had attended training programmes in management. The participants rated their managerial competencies for all items of six management functions as moderate (mean=3, 43, SD=0.51). The most frequently requested training needs were ‘financing management and preparing the annual budget (40.0%), strategic planning and SWOT analysis (23.3%), using information technology and computer skills (8.9%), quality control and writing standards (5.7%), and marketing health services (4.4%).

Conclusion: Considering the unique needs of every professional regarding all facets of training programmes as a training competencies needs, and teaching methods expected to scale up the rate of attendance. Respondents of this study admitted that they need further development training programmes.