[Sistematic review on the influence of leadership style on job satisfaction of health professionals]. / Revisión sistemática sobre la influencia del estilo de liderazgo en la satisfacción laboral de los profesionales de la salud.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Healthcare organisations are highly complex entities that live with a high risk of instability. In order to minimise this instability, interactions and personal relationships play a major role and accordingly the figure of the leader gains full significance. The leadership style used can produce different reactions and lead to multiple outcomes, including job satisfaction. The aim of the present review is to correlate leadership style with job satisfaction in healthcare professionals. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A systematic review was carried out in BVS, Cochrane plus, CINAHL, ApaPsycinfo and Pubmed, selecting publications that mentioned leadership styles and job satisfaction in healthcare professionals. Publications search strategy were limited for the 5-10last years, full text availability and language of writing: English, French and Spanish. Review-type publications were excluded. Of the 1566 initial titles, 15 were selected for analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The transformational style showed the highest number of positive correlations, followed by the authentic and transactional styles. On the other hand, the passive and laissez-faire styles showed a negative correlation regardless of the professional category to which they belonged. The results of this study provide a starting point for adopting effective leadership styles to optimise the recruitment and training processes of staff in management and coordination roles.

[The performance and perception of informed consent in a health-care section of Catalonia]. / Cumplimiento y percepción del consentimiento informado en un sector sanitario de Cataluña.

BACKGROUND: Informed consent entails a process which involves more than signing a form to give one's consent. This process involves the mutual exchange of information, understanding, trust and consent between physician and patient. The purpose of this study is that of ascertaining the degree to which those consumers who have gone through the informed consent process in a health care district in Catalonia have filled out and fully understood this form. METHODS: Telephone survey conducted among 314 former surgery patients at hospitals in a given district, ages 18-75, who had undergone surgery within the three months immediately prior to the date on which the survey was conducted for the purpose of ascertaining the opinion of these consumers regarding the consent process. A review of the clinical records of 30% of these individuals was conducted for the purpose of ascertaining the degree of compliance with the consent form process. RESULTS: Sixty-one percent (61%) of the patients surveyed remembered having signed the consent form, 59.2% recalling explanations regarding risks or complications of the surgery they were to undergo. Nine percent (9%) did not understand well enough what was going to be done to them during the surgery, and 36% were of the understanding that the consent form released the health care professionals from liability. A statistically significant relationship was found to exist among the age group, educational level and admissions channel. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of the clinical records reviewed included informed consent forms. The diagnosis was stated on 14.9% of these forms, and 48.9% had been signed by the attending physician. A statistically significant relationship was found between the channels through which patients were admitted to the hospital. CONCLUSIONS: The informed consent process is not being implemented correctly at the two hospitals analyzed. Physicians are not totally involved in the process.