Primary health care reform and implications for the organizational culture of Health Center Groups in Portugal

• Authors: Dussault G, Lapão L, Leone C
• Publication Year: 2014
• Journal: Cadernos de Saúde Pública
• Link: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-311X2014000100149

The health sector’s increasing complexity poses major challenges for administrators. There is considerable consensus on workforce quality as a key determinant of success for any health reform. This study aimed to explore the changes introduced by an action-training intervention in the organizational culture of the 73 executive directors of Health Center Groups (ACES) in Portugal during the primary health care reform. The study covers two periods, before and after the one-year ACES training, during which the data were collected and analyzed. The Competing Values Framework allowed observing that after the ACES action-training intervention, the perceptions of the executive directors regarding their organizational culture were more aligned with the practices and values defended by the primary health care reform. The study highlights the need to continue monitoring results over different time periods to elaborate further conclusions.