Decentralized worker-centred occupational management in health care: nationwide survey and alpha testing.

[en] [en] BACKGROUND: Occupational stress among healthcare workers negatively impacts job satisfaction and patient care quality, jeopardizing healthcare system sustainability. Traditional employer-driven approaches often fail to address these challenges comprehensively, leading to persistent gaps in work condition transparency and well-being. AIMS: To elucidate the working conditions of health workers and introduce a worker-centred, technology-based strategy moving beyond traditional practices and entrenched medical culture. METHODS: A nationwide survey of Belgian medical residents evaluated occupational conditions and perceptions of management practices. Additionally, the alpha version of a decentralized mobile application was tested to gather user satisfaction and feedback on its usability. The data were surveyed using Pearson's chi-squared and Kruskal-Wallis rank sum tests to assess associations between categorical and ordinal variables, respectively. Alpha-testing results were evaluated using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The nationwide survey, involving 257 participants, revealed significant associations between medical specialty, work choices and compensation. Notably, 91% of participants expressed strong interest in our proposed open, decentralized solution. In the alpha testing phase, 12 testers reported high satisfaction regarding time-tracking accuracy and payroll verification, though challenges related to administrative burden were also identified. CONCLUSIONS: The findings underscore the need for innovative, worker-centred occupational management solutions. The proposed solution shows promise in improving autonomy and transparency, potentially enhancing healthcare delivery and sustainability.

Disciplines :

Public health, health care sciences & services

Author, co-author :

Barrit, S ; Neurochirurgie, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium ; Sciences Chirurgicales, Université Paris-Est Créteil, 94010 Créteil, France ; Sciense, New York, NY 10013, USA ; Délégation des Médecins Francophones en Formation asbl, 1390 Grez-Doiceau, Belgium

Abene, S ; Anesthésie-Réanimation, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, 1200 Brussels, Belgium

de Froidmont, Alice ; Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège - CHU > > Service d'oncologie médicale

André, J ; Radiologie, Hôpital Erasme ULB, 1070 Brussels, Belgium

El Hadwe, S ; Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1TN, UK

Al Barajraj, M ; Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), Vaud, Switzerland

Niset, A ; Sciense, New York, NY 10013, USA ; Délégation des Médecins Francophones en Formation asbl, 1390 Grez-Doiceau, Belgium ; Médecine d'Urgence, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Language :

English

Title :

Decentralized worker-centred occupational management in health care: nationwide survey and alpha testing.

Publication date :

15 January 2025

Journal title :

Occupational Medicine

ISSN :

0962-7480

eISSN :

1471-8405

Publisher :

Oxford University Press, England

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://academic.oup.com/occmed/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/occmed/kqae129/61444427/kqae129.pdf

Available on ORBi :

since 17 April 2025

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