Characteristics of managerial decision-making in medical institutions in the trend in the professional activity of healthcare leaders

Abstract

Introduction. Despite the relevance of the managerial decision-making problem including those in healthcare institutions, there are virtually no studies that analyze its trend. This research is an attempt to eliminate this gap. The objective of this study is to evaluate the characteristics of managerial decision-making in healthcare institutions considering the trend in the professional activities of their managers. Material and methods. An expert survey method included an analysis of the answers of thirty six healthcare managers to the questions of an anonymous questionnaire covering a 10-year period of managerial activity. Results. We determined the positive changes in the competence of healthcare managers, in particular their theoretical knowledge (the first three years of managerial activity), practical skills (four years), foresight of the course of events — forecasting (five years), gaining confidence (5.2 ± 0.6 years), and a 10-year trend in managerial decision-making in healthcare institutions that refers to their quality (up to the ninth year), formulation (from the second year to the end of the observation), implementation (from the second to the ninth), reasons for non-fulfillment (ninth and tenth years), the significance of innovative solutions (from the second to the sixth years), expediency implementation of optimization directions (from the fifth to the eighth years). Limitations. Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the sample statistical population surveyed are limited — the opinion of healthcare managers who met the requirements for experts was assessed. Conclusion. This research is the first evaluation of the characteristics of managerial decision-making in healthcare institutions in the trend in professional healthcare management activity; it is of great scientific and practical importance and opens up prospects for optimizing the process under consideration.