Management of healthcare facilities and meeting cultural needs of clients

The aim of this paper was to identify the relationship between customer requirements for fulfilling their cultural needs, and the size of healthcare facilities that provide inpatient health care in Slovakia. We also investigated the rate of identification of clients’ cultural needs in selected Slovak healthcare facilities, regarding communication, alternative nutrition and the spiritual needs of clients from different cultural backgrounds. We also examined conditions for nurse training relating to meeting clients’ needs. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire distributed to management representatives of healthcare facilities in Slovakia. The sampling was deliberate. 146 facilities providing inpatient health care according to the National Health Information Centre were addressed. Methods of descriptive and inductive statistics (Cramer's contingency coefficient) were used to evaluate the questionnaires. Survey results showed that meeting culturally determined needs had a significant relationship with the size of the healthcare facility. The size of the healthcare facility did not have a significant relationship with the level of satisfaction of the following cultural needs – communication, alternative nutrition, and spiritual needs. This might lead to further research and it might challenge education of healthcare professionals regarding the changing needs of clients of healthcare facilities in the Slovak Republic.