The Study of Time Management Skills among Military and Civilian Hospitals' Managers

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

1 Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Health Services Management Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the time management skills among military and civilian hospitals' managers.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study conducted in 2015 on 240 senior, middle and first-line civilian and military hospitals' managers in Kermanshah. The required data were collected using a standard questionnaire (Time Management) consisting of 6 dimensions and 40 items. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS v21.0 through a few tests, including Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis tests and Spearman correlation coefficient.

Results: The results showed that among the time management dimensions, the highest and lowest means were, respectively, related to the prioritization of objectives and activities (with the mean of 1.79) and goal setting (with the mean of 1.56). Also, the results revealed that all the dimensions of time management skills in the Imam Hussein Military Hospital had higher means than the civilian hospitals and its means was greater than the average significantly.

Conclusion: Results showed that the studied managers were at a moderate level in terms of time management skills. Therefore, assessing the managers' time skills and behaviors in order to better understand the strategies used by them to manage their time and inform them about managing time can be suggested.

Keywords