Nurses' perceptions about health sector privatization in Turkey.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Health Policy Analysis
• Nursing Studies

Background:

• Turkey is actively pursuing healthcare privatization.
• Decisions regarding privatization are not effectively communicated to healthcare employees.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess nurses' perceptions of privatization in Turkey.
• To examine views on health services privatization and its impact on nursing.

Main Methods:

• A survey was conducted with nurses in Istanbul state health institutions in 2009.
• The Nurses' Privatization Perception Scale was used, with data analyzed using various statistical tests.

Main Results:

• Nurses reported negative perceptions across all aspects of privatization, including general privatization, health services privatization, and its impact on nursing.
• Perceptions varied based on independent variables, indicating diverse nurse experiences.

Conclusions:

• Nurses hold predominantly negative views on current healthcare privatization implementations.
• Recommendations are made for policymakers to consider these findings when developing health policies.