Israeli nurses' knowledge of health care reforms.
OBJECTIVE
This study examines health care reforms' implementation processes from the perspective of nurses' knowledge regarding the reforms. The research has been carried out in the Israeli context, where health care reforms were initiated in 1995. Three specific research questions were formulated: (a) What is the level of nurses' knowledge regarding the recommendations of the Netanyahu committee? (b) What is the level of nurses' knowledge concerning the basic principals of the National Insurance Law? and (c) Are there knowledge differences relating to employment setting (hospital, community, and educational settings), nurses' roles (managerial vs. staff nurses), years of experience, and level and type of education?


METHODS
The stratified nonproportional random sample consisted of a total of 468 nurses. Of these nurses, 206 were employed in community settings (136 in curative care, and 70 in preventive care), 137 were employed in hospital settings, and 125 worked in schools and departments of nursing. Research tools, developed for the purpose of this study, included the nurses' knowledge questionnaire comprised of five subscales, and the knowledge relevancy questionnaire.


RESULTS
Overall, data demonstrated a low to moderate level of knowledge on all knowledge scales. Knowledge level on the criteria questions was particularly low. Contrary to the low level of knowledge, nurses regarded health care reforms' knowledge as highly relevant to their work life. Curative setting, an extensive work experience, managerial position, and non-nursing academic degree were all positively related to higher levels of reforms' knowledge.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings should encourage both policy makers and managers in various health care organizations to develop programs for informing health care providers on central aspects of health care reforms considered most relevant to the practice setting.
Spitzer
A
A
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel. spitzer@research.haifa.ac.il
Golander
H
H
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D007587:Job Description; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires