A Qualitative Study of Organizational Excellence in Hospitals Affiliated with Medical Sciences Universities of Iran

Introduction: A hospital is one of society’s most important social institutions; however, poor organizational performance results in delayed treatment, disease progression, or patient mortality. This qualitative study seeks to investigate organizational excellence in Iranian medical sciences universities from the perspective of hospital managers. Material and Methods: The present qualitative study was conducted in hospitals affiliated with medical sciences universities in Iran in 2021. Data were acquired using the purposive sample method through in-depth interviews with 15 hospital managers and analyzed using MAXQDA software. After transcription, concepts and components were extracted from in-depth interviews using the grounded theory (GT) method. Results: Organizational excellence in hospitals has different elements that can be classify in the form of parameters of the grounded theory paradigm model (causal conditions, contextual conditions, intervening conditions and consequences). In causal conditions, it may include leadership, human resources, and strategies; in contextual conditions, resources and facilities; in intervening conditions, processes; and in consequence conditions, patient and family satisfaction, employee satisfaction, community satisfaction, and health system satisfaction. The findings revealed that leadership and human resources were the two most important factors in achieving hospital organizational excellence. Conclusion: Further emphasis should be made on leadership and human resources to achieve organizational excellence in Iranian hospitals affiliated with universities of medical sciences. By recruiting specialized human resources, managers can consider various leadership styles to improve the current situation and deliver desirable services.