FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY THE HEALTH MANAGEMENT OCCUPATION IN TURKEY: A QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION

Abstract

Objective: This is a qualitative research whose aim is to determine the fundamental problems faced by the health management profession in Turkey from expertness persfective.

Methods and Materials: This study conducted by a qualitative research method was  imposed upon science-fact design. In the research, face to face interview technique was conducted , for the participants whose opinions were consulted.  Being a graduate from health management or health administration departments was a prerequisitefor the participants. . ‘The criterion sampling method’, one of the sampling methods,   was used in order to determine the participants whoneed to discuss while performing the purpose of the research.  In the process of research, 15 people who obtained the sampling criteria were directly contacted and were requested to make an appointment. Appointment request was rejected by 3 people. In this context, 12 participants included in the research. The participants of research consisted of 10 academicians (four professors, two associate professors, four assistant professors) and 2 chairmen in non-governmental organizations in the field of health management. The obtained data were collected using the face-to-face interview technique and voice recorder. In the analysis of the data, Nvivo program, a thematic and  qualitative data analysis method, was used.

Results: In this study, the answers given by the experts to the questions: "What is the fundamental problems faced by Health Management Occupation in Turkey? What is your opinion?" were analyzed. These answers fell under three main themes; issues with education, political issues and the lack of job involvement.

Conclusion: As a result of the analyzes, considering the theme of issues related to training, which are one of the three themes obtained, the problems related to the education of the occupation were entitled under three sub-themes; educative based, student-based and education process based. As a result of the research, health management policies which are the second theme of the main problems faced by the health management profession was identified as three sub-themes related to employment-sourced, educational policy-sourced and sustainability of policies-sourced problems. Thirdly, among the reasons of the problems concerning the lack of    job involvement one of the principal themes of the problems related to key problems faced by the health management profession in Turkey, were found to be weak lobbying, lack of occupational organizations lack of job involvement in non-ownership of public institutions; lack of job involvement among academicians.