The paper attempts at assessing the results of functioning of hospital with use of multicriteria decision support methods. Research was conducted on a group of selected hospital patients in Małopolska hospitals. The hospitals were assessed according to five main criteria: service availability, communication between employees and patients, nursing and medical care, stay at hospital and others. Each criteria had several subcriteria. Those, in turn, had subsubcriteria related to them. Weights (priorities) were calculated for each of them showing their relative influence for hospital quality assessment. The research results differ significantly from assessments made so far which were based on questions, usually in 5 degree Likert scale, directed to patients.

The study was conducted as part of European RN4CAST project, with participation of 16 countries, including 12 from Europe.
Aim: To develop universal and modern assumptions for the policy of effective nurse employment and management in hospital.
Material and method: The study was conducted on a nationally representative sample of 30 hospitals, selected through multi-stage group sampling. Professional satisfactions of nurses working at internal and surgical wards, as well as satisfaction of patients of these wards were tested in a questionnaire study. Data on patient treatment outcomes, and hospital organisation and operation were also collected. Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) and generalised estimating equations (GEE) were used for statistical analysis.
Conclusion: RN4CAST is the first project focused on the hospital and contextual determinants of its operation, which compares Polish results with those from other European states, thanks to a single international study procedure.

Introduction. The essence of nursing care is to improve treatment results, patient satisfaction, and decrease treatment costs.
Aim. Presenting the factors determining the assessment of nursing care quality in acute hospitals.
Material and method. The study included 2605 nurses working in 30 hospitals in Poland. The Work Environment Scale and an opinion questionnaire were used to collect the data. The analysis based on logistic regression model, generalised estimating equations, χ² test, and Mann-Whitney test.
Results. Three in every four respondents evaluated the quality of nursing care as good. The assessment depended on the conditions of work, autonomy in providing care, patient information flow, patient safety, occurrence of adverse events, discussion of mistakes, nurse workload, potential for education, and flexible working time.
Conclusion. The factors significantly influencing the assessment of nursing care quality are the working environment, care monitoring and management.

Introduction. European states observe an increased demand for healthcare services and diminishing numbers of nurses working in the healthcare system. A divergence that may result in future shortages of hospital nursing staff.
Aim. Definition of factors that influence readiness to recommend the hospital as place of employment by nurses employed in Polish hospitals.
Material and method. Polish part of the RN4CAST protocol, the study uses logistic regression model on data from 2605 questioners from nurses working in 30 Polish hospitals.
Results. About half of the responders declared readiness to recommend employment in their hospital. The recommendation depended on working conditions, quality of care, patient safety, and manager interest in professional development of personnel. Higher level of emotional burnout reduced the probability of recommendation.
Conclusions. Working conditions, quality of care, patient safety, and potential of professional development are the main factors deciding about the eagerness to recommend employment in one’s hospital.

Introduction. Adequate hospital staff employment and assorted organisational circumstances influence outcomes of hospitalised patients.
Aim. To analyse influence of hospital staff employment structure and selected organisational circumstances on the death rate of patients hospitalised in acute hospitals.
Material and method. Anonymous data of hospitalised patients (fragment of the NHF* report) and of hospital organisational questionnaire were used. The hospital death rate (proportion of hospital deaths to patient admissions) was defined as the dependent variable. The study included 25 hospitals, which provided all the required data. Statistical analysis was conducted in IBM SPSS Statistics 20, using rho Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient for quantitative variables and eta correlation ratio for qualitative variables.
Results. The death rate value was adversely correlated with the number of employed physicians, nurses and other not-nursing staff who provided direct patient care. The global number of hospital intensive care units and allocation of separate medical and surgical intensive care units positively influenced the hospital death rate.
Conclusions. The number of employed personnel (physician, nurses, and other staff) involved in direct patient care and organization of intensive care in a hospital structure influence the death rate of patients treated in Polish acute hospitals.

The population aging process is inherent feature of all contemporary societies. It places enormous pressure on all countries health and social systems. The demographic changes lead to both the organizational as well as financial challenges. The aim of the article is to present the scope and diversity of the ‘population aging’ influence on the health care sector – by description of various, related researches, projects and activities conducted within the past several years, in Europe and Poland. The authors provide brief summaries of contemporary researches and analyze the effects of the population aging on the Polish health care system in its: organizational (human resources), financial (costs of treatment, public expenditure) and social (disability, informal care) aspects. The need for comprehensive (combining education, labour, health and social sectors), long-term strategy focused on the population aging challenge is emphasized

17 maja 2013 roku odbyła się w Warszawie konferencja Dodatkowe ubezpieczenia zdrowotne – efektywny system na tle doświadczeń europejskich. Konferencja została zorganizowana przez Polską Izbę Ubezpieczeń (PIU), która jest organizacją samorządu branżowego reprezentującą wszystkie zakłady ubezpieczeń działające w Polsce. Do zadań PIU należy między innymi wspiera
nie ustawodawcy w zakresie kształtowania prawa asekuracyjnego oraz prowadzenie wielostronnego dialogu na rzecz rozwoju sektora ubezpieczeń