To determine the management and/or leadership training of professionals who lead physiotherapy units in public general hospitals in Spain. To analyze to what extent the level of training influences their leadership skills. To find out the training that these leaders identify as important for their activity.
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Type of study: quantitative, observational, descriptive and correlational, cross-sectional study.
Sample: complete population of the census of professionals leading Physiotherapy Units in Public General Hospitals in Spain.
Variables: Sociodemographic: sex, age, profession, academic level. Management and leadership training: during university training, before accessing management positions and during performance. Training considered most important for the performance of management and/or leadership functions. Leadership skills: Leadership Orientation Instrument questionnaire,
Descriptive statistical analysis: qualitative variables: frequency and percentage distribution measures, quantitative variables, central tendency, non-central tendency and dispersion measures.
Analysis of relationships between variables: in this census study, the data obtained are from the entire population. These types of tests have been applied to determine to what extent training influences leadership variables. Relationships between qualitative variables, Chi Square hypothesis testing. Relationship between quantitative variables: analysis of variance (normal distribution), Kruskal-Wallis test (they did not present a normal distribution). To check this distribution of the data, the Shapiro Wilk test was used.
A response rate of 72% was obtained. The professionals in charge of the hospital physiotherapy units are mostly women (69.4%), with an average age of 49.6, physiotherapists (91.0%), academic level of diploma (59.7%), degree (18.1%), master's degree (18.1%) and doctorate (4.2%).
97.2% had not received training in management and/or leadership during their university studies, 72.2% had not received training before taking up their position, and the majority (68.8%) receive training in leadership during the exercise of their functions.
The training considered most important for the performance of the leadership role has been: “Problem analysis and decision making”, “Human resources management” and “Conflict resolution”.
The number of frameworks that they manage effectively shows a statistically significant difference (p=0.043), between those who received leadership training during the performance of their duties 2.3 (SD 1.3) (25% use all 4 frameworks), compared to those who did not 1.8 (SD 1.2).
The professionals who lead Physiotherapy Units of General Hospitals are mainly women, qualified physiotherapists. A large percentage had not received training in management and/or leadership in their undergraduate education, or prior to their incorporation into the position. It is confirmed that leadership training has a positive influence on the professionals' abilities to use multiple leadership frameworks.
This study provides information on the areas of leadership and management that can be improved, both in training and in execution, to achieve better results for patients, for the benefit of the population, the profession and health organizations.
Physiotherapy
Training
