Role ambiguity and role conflict among employees in a provincial public hospital

Health professionals' role ambiguity and role conflict jeopardize the functionality and efficiency of hospitals. Aim: Documentation and exploration of the role conflict and role ambiguity experienced by employees in a Greek provincial public hospital. Material and methods: One hundred four employees aged 22-53 years old. Doctors, nurses technical and administrative personnel working in a provincial public hospital were enrolled in the study. This survey took place in July 2010. The Rizzo's et al role conflict and role ambiguity scales adopted in Greek were used. Scoring is based on a seven point Likert scale. Statistical significance level was set at p<0.05. Analysis was performed with SPSS 17.0. Results: Role conflict and ambiguity score was (4.10± 1.17 and 2.63 ± 1.29 respectively). Regarding role ambiguity, statistically significant differences were observed between employees aged 22-32 yrs old and employees aged 47-53 yrs old (p=0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed regarding role conflict. Conclusions: Role conflict and role ambiguity exist among hospital employees. The present study emphasizes critical issues, with considerable consequences threatening the viability and the efficiency of the health care system.

Keywords: Role conflict, role ambiguity, hospital, employee