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Purpose: This study investigates the role of telemedicine in sustaining healthcare systems in Europe, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It focusses on how telemedicine serves as a strategic response to modern healthcare challenges, emphasising its efficiency, accessibility, and patient-centred nature.

Need for the study: The need for this study arises from the escalating demands on healthcare systems, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to understand the adoption of telemedicine practices across European Union (EU) countries and their impact on healthcare sustainability.

Methodology: This study employs hierarchical and K-Means clustering to analyse EU citizens’ attitudes towards teleconsultations during COVID-19. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used for data compression and insight extraction. Data is sourced from Eurofound’s 2020 and 2021 surveys, involving extensive participant responses across the EU.

Findings: The study’s findings reveal significant shifts towards digital healthcare solutions, such as an increase in online consultations and prescriptions. It identifies different patterns of telemedicine use across EU countries, influenced by socioeconomic and geographical factors. These findings offer insights into future healthcare policy and strategy development.

Practical implications: The findings provide valuable insights into the shifts in telemedicine adoption in the EU, highlighting the significance of economic and sociological factors in healthcare trends. This study stresses the importance of customising healthcare strategies to suit the unique needs and digital capabilities of different countries.

Artificial intelligence (AI) applications are increasingly used for day-to-day operations in healthcare. Each has a relatively limited scope or task, and several find application in managerial and organizational processes. More and more, AI and machine learning (ML) devices have received US FDA approval in the last decade. This chapter covers the main AI applications in healthcare, with a focus on organizational AI solutions (administrative AI), the main AI developers, their investment and real-world data and case studies in healthcare and other sectors. AI can be applied in resource management and procurement, resource allocation, clinical case management, staff work shift scheduling and handling of emergencies. AI applications are becoming ubiquitous in hospital (e.g. emergency room and operating theatre) and outpatient settings (e.g. ambulatory care and dentistry clinics). Their implementation is expected to bring direct benefits for patient care and satisfaction. This chapter gives a broad definition of AI in healthcare settings, with a focus on administrative applications and their use in case study data.

The complex challenges facing the healthcare sector call for a revision of the ways it can provide high-quality services with economic sustainability. Revision can proceed along different pathways. Among the new paradigms of healthcare is the shift from a silo approach by hospitals towards an integrated, multidisciplinary approach. This entails restructuring hospitals in disease centres and exploring how AI can aid in the integration of hospital services and community care. Reorganization is vital to the development of patient-centred healthcare and the holistic approach. To achieve these goals, healthcare and policy decision-makers need to consider both the administrative and the clinical aspects of everyday issues. AI can play a key role in helping balance this duality. The overarching objective is to create interdisciplinary therapeutic and diagnostic pathways within care networks shared between the hospital and the community. This involves the analysis of huge amounts of data and interdisciplinary knowledge beyond the grasp of an individual. Therefore, knowing how AI can help in the development and reorganization of community healthcare is essential for clinical leaders to take advantage of this enormous opportunity in larger settings.

This paper aims to provide insights into the potential of digital technologies-based innovations for more inclusive healthcare by alleviating the affordability, accessibility and availability barriers to utilization of healthcare services. Also, it aims to provide insights into the potential of digital technologies-based innovations for more inclusive services, broadly.

A conceptual framework is inductively developed by analyzing real-world examples of digital technologies-based innovations for more inclusive healthcare through the lenses of economics of information in digital form and certain characteristics of services.

Concurrent implementation of digital technologies-based healthcare innovations with innovations and/or modifications in service processes can enable greater inclusivity by alleviating the affordability, accessibility and availability barriers to utilization of healthcare services.

Issues relating to inequities in healthcare, as a social problem, are the focus of research at multiple levels (e.g. global, national, regional and local) in several academic disciplines. In relation to the scope of the problems and challenges pertaining to providing quality healthcare to the unserved and underserved segments of society, worldwide, the contribution of the proposed framework to practice is modest. However, by highlighting the promise and potential of digital technologies-based innovations as solutions for alleviating barriers to affordability, accessibility and availability of healthcare services during various stages (prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and post-treatment follow-up) with illustrative vignettes and developing a framework, the article offers insights for future research. For instance, in reference to mission-driven social enterprises that operate in the product-market space for inclusive innovations under resource constraints, a resourcefulness-based view of the social enterprise constitutes a potential avenue for theory development and research.

Given the conceptual nature of the article, the implications for practice are limited to cognitive implications. Action implications (instrumental implications or implications for practice) are outside of the scope of the article.

Innovations that are economically viable, environmentally sustainable and socially impactful is one of the important issues of our times.

The proposed framework provides insights into the potential of digital technologies-based innovations for more inclusive healthcare by alleviating the affordability, accessibility and availability barriers in the context of emerging and less developed country markets and base of the pyramid segments of society in these markets.

Community health centres (CHCs) play a vital role in healthcare service delivery in rural India and act as a crucial link between the primary and tertiary healthcare systems. The rural population in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir primarily depends on CHCs for healthcare services due to the scarcity of private healthcare infrastructure and the lack of access to tertiary hospitals. The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of management capability, staff competence, waiting time and patient satisfaction on revisit intention among patients visiting CHCs for care needs. It further examines the mediational role of patient satisfaction between antecedents of patient satisfaction and revisit intention.

A survey by questionnaire was used to collect data from 318 inpatients and outpatients visiting CHCs. Partial least square-structural equation modelling was performed with the help of SmartPLS 3 software to evaluate the causal relationships between variables.

The findings of the study ascertain that staff competence and waiting time are strong predictors of patient satisfaction while management capability was reported as an insignificant factor. Patient satisfaction significantly affects revisit intention and successfully mediates the impact of management capability, staff competence and waiting time on revisit intention.

CHCs play a significant role in bridging the gap between primary healthcare and tertiary healthcare and in delivering healthcare services to the vast rural population in India. This study necessitates the active participation of management to ensure the smooth functioning of CHCs. There is a need to provide adequate staff and necessary infrastructural facilities to reduce the treatment waiting time.

This article aims to provide the current state of the art of the literature on the contribution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the measurement and management of performance in the healthcare sector. In particular, the work aims to identify current and emerging ICTs and how these relate to the performance measurement and management (PMM) cycle of healthcare organizations.

To address the research objective, we adopted a systematic literature review. In particular, we used the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) methodology to select articles related to the investigated topic. Based on an initial screening of 560 items retrieved from Scopus and ISI Web of Knowledge, we identified and analyzed 58 articles dealing with ICTs and PMM in the healthcare sector. The last update of the dataset refers to February 2024.

Although we attempted to address a relevant topic for both research and practice, we noticed that a relatively small sample of articles directly addressed it. Through this literature review, in addition to providing descriptive statistics of research on ICTs and PMM in healthcare, we identified six theoretical clusters of scientific streams focusing on the topic and eleven categories of ICTs effectively tackled by the literature. We then provided a holistic framework to link technologies to the different PMM phases and functions.

Nowadays, the availability of ICTs to support healthcare organizations’ processes and services is extensive. In this context, managers at various organizational levels need to understand and evaluate how each ICT can support different activities to benefit most from their adoption. The findings of this study can offer valuable insights to top and line managers of healthcare organizations for planning their investments in both existing and emerging ICTs to support the various stages of development and functions of PMM.

Most of the current literature focusing on ICTs in the healthcare sector refers to the contribution that technology provides to clinical processes and services, devoting limited attention to the impact of ICTs on administrative processes, such as PMM. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this represents the first literature review on the contribution of ICTs to PMM in the healthcare sector. The review, differently from other research focused on specific ICTs and/or specific PMM functions, provides a holistic perspective to understand how these technologies may support healthcare organizations and systems in measuring and managing their performance.

China’s healthcare system is being burdened by the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases. Therefore, this study investigated the health service requirements of mobile health applications (mHealth apps) users in Hangzhou, China. This study aimed to propose suggestions and theoretical references to improve mHealth apps and promote their development, thereby meeting public medical and health needs and creating an efficient medical service system.

We constructed a model of health service demands using a literature review, network survey, and semi-structured interviews. We analyzed the demand attributes using the Kano model and Better-Worse index and obtained the priority ranking of demands.

The results revealed 25 demand elements in four dimensions: must-be (M), one-dimensional (O), attractive (A), and indifferent (I) requirements. The findings suggest that mHealth app developers can optimize health services by categorizing and managing health services, focusing on middle-aged users, enhancing the professionalism of health service providers, and improving the feedback mechanism.

Studies on mHealth apps user demands, particularly on health service needs, remain scarce. This study employed a mixed-methods approach, integrating both qualitative and quantitative research techniques, to establish a priority ranking of user health service needs for mHealth apps. The study offers recommendations and theoretical references to optimize and improve mHealth app services.

1. Construct a better health service requirements model for mHealth app users.

2. Obtain the prioritization of demand elements in the model.

3. Propose some management suggestions to improve mHealth apps.

Construct a better health service requirements model for mHealth app users.

Obtain the prioritization of demand elements in the model.

Propose some management suggestions to improve mHealth apps.

This study aims to learn about the experiences of inmates who experienced long periods of isolation due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Brians 1 penitentiary centre. This approach is relevant, as it sought to understand the experiences from the perspective of the prisoners during periods of isolation. The aim was to gain in-depth knowledge, based on the idiosyncrasies of this population, of their emotions and coping strategies in the prison context. This information that may be useful to prison institutions and prison primary healthcare teams to guide the organisation in future health emergencies involving the isolation of prisoners.

A qualitative interpretative phenomenological study was conducted. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 30 people who had undergone a period of isolation due to a COVID-19 outbreak in one or two of the last two outbreaks at the Brians 1 (Barcelona) prison in 2022, in the days following periods of social isolation. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using the content analysis approach, and were coded using the NVivo 12 qualitative software. The credibility and validity of the data analysed were increased through triangulation at different levels. In this study, data was collected from a heterogeneous sample of prisoners, capturing different views among the prison population.

This research gave us the opportunity to collect prisoners’ accounts of isolation due to COVID-19, in which it became clear that it conditioned the management of time and space in daily prison life. The restrictions amplified negative emotions such as anxiety, stress and restlessness and led to disruptions in communication with the outside world, daily prison activities and judicial processes. Despite these changes, the prisoners understood the imperatives of isolation and the need to adapt to the new situation for a limited period of time. Faced with the detrimental effect on their well-being, the prisoners employed coping strategies focused on emotional management, social supports and occupational engagement.

This study is subject to several limitations related to the characteristics of the sample. No women participated in the study as the modules studied were exclusively for men. People with impaired cognitive abilities, were not included. With regard to the method, it is understood that conducting the interviews in the days after the isolation may have influenced the content and enthusiasm of the participants. Despite these limitations, we are confident that the data triangulation may have given us reliable insight that will further our knowledge of prisoners’ experiences in this type of situation.

The issue of the negative impact of restrictive measures in the prison environment has rarely been studied from the perspective of prisoners. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide qualitative data on the experiences of prisoners during periods of social isolation due to COVID-19 outbreaks in prisons in Catalonia (Spain). The narratives allowed the authors to determine what impact the restrictions had on the emotional well-being and daily life of the prison population, information that can help prison institutions and healthcare teams understand how prisoners experienced this type of situation. The authors were also able to carry out an in-depth study of the coping strategies used by the prisoners to deal with negative emotions during the COVID-19 outbreaks, which may serve to guide the organisation of material and human resources in future emergencies or regimented situations involving social isolation.

The primary objective of this paper is to show a systematic and methodological approach for the digitalization of critical clinical pathways (CPs) within the healthcare domain.

The methodology entails the integration of service design (SD) and action research (AR) methodologies, characterized by iterative phases that systematically alternate between action and reflective processes, fostering cycles of change and learning. Within this framework, stakeholders are engaged through semi-structured interviews, while the existing and envisioned processes are delineated and represented using BPMN 2.0. These methodological steps emphasize the development of an autonomous, patient-centric web application alongside the implementation of an adaptable and patient-oriented scheduling system. Also, business processes simulation is employed to measure key performance indicators of processes and test for potential improvements. This method is implemented in the context of the CP addressing transient loss of consciousness (TLOC), within a publicly funded hospital setting.

The methodology integrating SD and AR enables the detection of pivotal bottlenecks within diagnostic CPs and proposes optimal corrective measures to ensure uninterrupted patient care, all the while advancing the digitalization of diagnostic CP management. This study contributes to theoretical discussions by emphasizing the criticality of process optimization, the transformative potential of digitalization in healthcare and the paramount importance of user-centric design principles, and offers valuable insights into healthcare management implications.

The study’s relevance lies in its ability to enhance healthcare practices without necessitating disruptive and resource-intensive process overhauls. This pragmatic approach aligns with the imperative for healthcare organizations to improve their operations efficiently and cost-effectively, making the study’s findings relevant.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has challenged leadership in hospitals worldwide. The experiences of leadership during the pandemic changed leadership significantly. This study aims to describe nurse leaders’ perceptions of what future leadership in hospital settings in the post-pandemic era needs to be like.

A qualitative descriptive study was used. A total of 20 nurse leaders from the Finnish central hospital were interviewed from June to October 2021. The data were analysed using inductive content analysis.

The analysis revealed five main categories describing nurse leaders’ perceptions of future leadership in hospital settings in the post-pandemic era: digitalisation and hybrid working culture, development of sustainable working conditions, moving smoothly to the post-pandemic era, dissolution of traditional regimes of organisation and flexibility in leadership.

In the post-pandemic era, the constantly changing demands and challenges currently facing healthcare systems have significantly increased the complexity of hospital organisations. This requires critical evaluation and change to traditional leadership. Enhancing flexibility and authenticity in leadership, strengthening competencies, implementing a wide range of digital resources and increasing the appeal of the nursing profession to build the next generation of nurses – all of these are needed to provide sustainability in future healthcare.

The results identify the critical points of leadership that need to be developed for future challenges and for maintaining a sufficient supply of qualified professionals. Acting on this information will enhance flexibility in organisations and lead to acceleration of changes and the development of new kinds of leadership in the future