title: Healthcare workers satisfaction and patient satisfaction - where is the linkage?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study aims to assess at what level healthcare worker satisfaction affects patient satisfaction, as well as which elements of healthcare worker satisfaction affect health service quality and patient satisfaction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data was collected via questionnaire-based surveys, from 18,642 healthcare workers and 9,283 patients across 50 secondary healthcare institutions in Serbia. Data analysis was based on descriptive statistics, correlations and the I2-distance method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Despite the general belief that healthcare worker satisfaction has a significant impact on patient satisfaction, the research results show that the correlation factor between these two is relatively low. Despite this, the obtained value of correlation cannot be neglected, therefore it can only corroborate the fact that healthcare worker satisfaction does impact patient satisfaction. The results of the study show that the satisfaction of healthcare workers with the time they have to accomplish their assigned tasks has the greatest effect upon patient satisfaction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  By understanding the importance of certain elements of healthcare worker satisfaction and its effects on patient satisfaction, it is possible to make decisions about factors that need to be improved in order to raise patient satisfaction to the highest possible level. These research results are significant for the management of health care institutions and responsible state institutions which create policy and strategy for improving the quality of health care services.
authors.affiliation: Quality Management Department of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Janicijevic
authors.affiliation: Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the Institute for Public Health of Serbia.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Seke
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Statistics of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Djokovic
authors.affiliation: Quality Management Department of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Filipovic
keywords: Healthcare worker satisfaction; I2-distance method; correlation; patient satisfaction