Do public hospitals have operational policies?

Abstract

A questionnaire survey was conducted among directors on the presence and type of operational policies in place at their public hospitals. If it is assumed that hospitals, from which directors did not reply, did not have operational policies then such policies were present in 64.3% (81 of 126) of public hospitals, 42.9% being complete and 21.4% incomplete. If the hospitals from which directors did not reply are excluded, then operational policies are present in 90% of public hospitals, being complete in 60% and incomplete in 30%. Limitations of the study include selection and reporting bias, and the inconsistent criteria on which operational policies were judged to be complete. Furthermore the presence and types of operational policies reported to be available were not independently verified.