Turkey has experienced a substantial development in Total Quality Management (TQM), measurement, and monitoring of hospitals. Ministry of Health has developed the Quality Standards in Healthcare (QSH) in order to adapt to international quality standards of health care to the health care services as a result of long research and experience. This study aimed to determine the effects of QSH applied in a public hospital on the quality performance of the organization. The researchers used a performance measurement model to measure the impact of the recently developed QSH on the quality performance and organizational excellence of a 320-bed public hospital in a developing country. Successful applying of TQM in hospitals requires the involvement and commitment of all health care providers. The study was carried out in an attempt to explore the attitude of health care providers applying TQM practices on hospital performance in a general public hospital. We collected data from 302 healthcare providers. We used a structured questionnaire to collect data. The study was based on total quality management theory and Kanji's Business Excellence (KBEM) model. The study used a 10-point Likert-type scale. The Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to test whether the data obtained from the participants supported the model. The variable mean scores and path coefficients were calculated. The data were collected in five different periods between July 2017 and January 2019. The results of the study showed that the average attitudes of nurses, physicians, and administrative staff about the factors of hospital quality performance differed from the attitudes of technical staff. The study results reflected some strong areas, notably leadership, customer/patient satisfaction, quality management process, measurement, and organizational excellence. The results indicated that the hospital organization was mainly based on institutional excellence, quality improvement and patient safety, leadership and management performance, patient satisfaction and institutional learning, corporate ethical performance. The results also identified opportunities for improvement in QSH standards for human resource management and the absence of standards that address existing issues in organizations with organizational structures. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0889/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Depression is a widespread disease and remarks a difficult clinical challenge for primary health care providers or physicians. Primary health care providers, namely Family Physicians (FPs), are crucial in recognizing and managing depression process. The study employed a cross-sectional survey of FPs’ attitudes toward diagnosis and management, asking about their perceptions of their patient depression process. Data for the study was gathered from the FPs who were Facebook group members. 229 out of 550 FPs answered the survey questions. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 24th edition. The study examined whether FPs made a significant difference between gender and years of experience in the profession. A questionnaire comprising items on a 9-point Likert scale was used to capture the perceptions and the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-tests. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was further employed to examine if the critical factors were perceived differently by FPs’ experience years. The study findings presented that gender did not make a statistically significant difference. There was a significant difference between the 6-10 years of experience group of FPs, the 16-20 years of experience group, and the 21+ years group. The study showed that FPs were undecided in diagnosing and treating depressed patients. The study displayed that FPs' getting to know their patients better facilitates the diagnosis and treatment of depression. However, the study indicated that family physicians were indecisive in the depressed patients' diagnosis and treatment. It can be concluded that the success of depression processes requires the cooperation of FPs and psychiatrists. These findings suggest that healthcare policymakers should consider FPs' strategies for managing depression in the improvement of mental health services.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0015/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>