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The purpose of this study is to determine the interactions between factors such as organizational learning, feedback about errors, punitive response to errors and communication quality in hospitals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Colombia when adopting a culture of quality and safety (CQS) in patient care.

Based on a literature review, a self-administered questionnaire was developed and used to collect data from 417 Saudi respondents affiliated with hospitals and 483 Colombian respondents at the beginning of the pandemic. Structural equation modeling is used in this study to test the hypothesized relationships.

The results show a solid and significant predictive relationship between feedback about errors and the CQS in both countries (Colombia: b = 0.55, p < 0.001; KSA: b = 0.44, p < 0.001), but a very low and insignificant predictive relationship between no punitive response to errors and CQS (Colombia: b = –0.02, p > 0.05; KSA: b = 0.05, p > 0.05).

This study demonstrates the importance of organizational learning in fostering a CQS in the health-care sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Colombia. Recent unprecedented policy actions motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as social distancing, lockdowns and safety practices enforcement, have further highlighted this concern. Moreover, attention to the dimensions addressed in this study is required for accreditation purposes in organizations seeking to promote a CQS. Overall, this research highlights the vital role of safety and quality practices among health-care organizations, which has significant policy implications, especially in the current period of high uncertainty.

This paper contributes to the theory and practice in the health-care sector by extending the current knowledge of the impact of the quality of communications, non-punitive response to errors and feedback about errors in organizational learning and safety culture, and by presenting a novel, quantitative methodology seldom used for these topics.

Disasters are growing in frequency and scale, unmasking the systemic vulnerabilities of modern supply chains and highlighting the need to understand how to respond to such events. In the context of an extreme event such as the COVID-19 pandemic, this research focuses on how networks of organizations leverage their combined resources and capabilities to develop, manufacture and deliver new products outside their traditional markets.

Following a theory elaboration process, the authors build on resource orchestration theory to develop data collection and analysis protocols to support a multi-case study research design. This research investigates four cases of newly formed networks that emerged in four different countries – Colombia, Italy, the United States and the United Kingdom–in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

These four networks in the investigation share common characteristics in terms of motivation and approach, creating patterns from which theoretical generalizations are developed into a series of propositions regarding the process of network-level resource orchestration under extreme uncertainty.

The research shows how networks and the organizations within them can streamline processes, swiftly build new relationships and develop a balanced risk management approach to extreme uncertainty.

This research contributes to theory by extending the resource orchestration model to a network level and showing how extreme uncertainty can lead to the emergence of networks and alter the motivations and goals of the member organizations, allowing them to be more responsive.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current state of logistics practices in healthcare organizations in Bogota, Colombia.

The assessment is based on case study research using open interviews, focused interviews, a questionnaire and direct observations as sources of evidence. Seven Colombian health care settings are analyzed: four public hospitals and three private clinics. Cross-case analysis allows the identification of patterns regarding supply management, inventory management, replenishment and use of information and communication technologies.

Manual procedures, poor planning, little recognition from top management and a lack of specialized personnel characterize the current situation. Innovative practices with a potential to improve the efficacy of logistics activities are rare, particularly in public hospitals.

Future research could replicate this study in other Colombian cities, in order to generalize the results to the whole country. It could also be interesting to document successful and less successful implementations of innovative logistics practices in Colombian hospitals to guide and promote their adoption.

The small number of cases considered, and the fact that the research is concentrated in one city, limits the generalizability of the results.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to explore the state of healthcare logistics practices in Colombia.

Este artículo explora el estado actual de las prácticas logísticas en los hospitales de Bogotá, Colombia.

La evaluación se basa en la investigación de un estudio de caso utilizando entrevistas abiertas, entrevistas centradas, un cuestionario y observaciones directas como fuentes de evidencia. Se analizan siete establecimientos de salud colombianos: cuatro hospitales públicos y tres clínicas privadas. El análisis cruzado de casos permite la identificación de patrones relacionados con la gestión del abastecimiento, la gestión de inventarios, la reposición y el uso de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC).

Los procedimientos manuales, la mala planificación, el escaso reconocimiento de la alta dirección y la falta de personal especializado caracterizan la situación actual. Las prácticas innovadoras con un potencial para mejorar la eficacia de las actividades logísticas son raras, particularmente en los hospitales públicos.

Este estudio se podría replicar en otras ciudades colombianas, con el fin de generalizar los resultados a todo el país. También podría ser interesante documentar implementaciones exitosas y menos exitosas de prácticas logísticas innovadoras en hospitales colombianos para guiar y promover su adopción.

El pequeño número de casos considerados, y el hecho de que la investigación se concentra en una ciudad, limita la generalización de nuestros resultados.

Según nuestro conocimiento, esta investigación es la primera en explorar el estado de las prácticas de logística hospitalaria en Colombia.

The purpose of this paper is to design and validate a reliable and comprehensive instrument to assess the influence of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices on sustainable performance in hospitals.

A systematic and mixed-method approach was used to create and validate an instrument for assessing the level of implementation of hospital SSCM practices and the perceived extent of environmental, social and economic performance. This includes the development of preliminary items and the evaluation of content and construct validity. Data from Colombian hospitals was collected. Structural equation modeling was used to test the structural model.

During the content validity phase, an initial version of the questionnaire consisting of 88 items was generated. This version was qualitatively and quantitatively reviewed and assessed by six academicians and two hospital practitioners, based on criteria of sufficiency, clarity, relevance and coherence. The computation of both individual and scale content validity indices, along with the qualitative feedback, led to the refinement of the questionnaire. The subsequent phase of construct validity involved the implementation of a pilot test with 55 responses gathered from Colombian hospitals. By considering the metrics of convergent validity and discriminant validity derived from the analysis of structural equation modeling, the final instrument was composed of 59 items. The results reveal that hospital SSCM practices can be conceptualized and measured through two dimensions: environmental and social. The former includes the underlying constructs of internal environmental management, green purchasing and green operations. The latter encompasses the constructs of working conditions and employee well-being, equity management, social purchasing and community development and participation. Sustainable performance is defined by its environmental, social and economic dimensions.

This study is intended to provide useful insights for hospitals, researchers and policymakers to measure and develop strategies to enhance the implementation of SSCM practices, thereby improving sustainable performance. As a matter of fact, the instrument has already been applied in a recent empirical study conducted in Colombia, aimed at addressing the influence of SSCM practices on sustainable performance in hospitals.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to develop and empirically test an instrument for measuring the influence of SSCM on sustainable performance, both in the hospital setting and in an emerging country.

The risk of adverse events in a hospital evaluation is an important process in healthcare management. It involves several technical, social, and economical aspects. The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated approach to evaluate the risk of adverse events in the hospital sector.

This paper aims to provide a decision-making framework to evaluate hospital service. Three well-known methods are applied. More specifically are proposed the following methods: analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions, based on mathematics and psychology developed by Thomas L. Saaty in the 1970s; decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) to construct interrelations between criteria/factors and VIKOR method, a commonly used multiple-criteria decision analysis technique for determining a compromise solution and improving the quality of decision making.

The example provided has demonstrated that the proposed approach is an effective and useful tool to assess the risk of adverse events in the hospital sector. The results could help the hospital identify its high performance level and take appropriate measures in advance to prevent adverse events. The authors can conclude that the promising results obtained in applying the AHP–DEMATEL–VIKOR method suggest that the hybrid method can be used to create decision aids that it simplifies the shared decision-making process.

This paper presents a novel approach based on the integration of AHP, DEMATEL and VIKOR methods. The final aim is to propose a robust methodology to overcome disadvantages associated with each method.

This study aims to investigate a reliability-level demand-oriented pharmaceutical supply chain design with maximal anticipated demand coverage. Different hospitals with the particular reliability value associated with the various pharmaceutical items (PIs) are considered. An inter-connected multi-period supply chain comprising manufacturers, distribution centers, hospitals and patients is assumed for the smooth flow of health-care items, enhancing supply chain reliability. A reliability index for PIs is depicted to highlight product preference and facilitate hospitals’ service levels for patients.

A mixed-integer multi-objective programming problem that maximizes maximal demand coverage minimizes the total economic costs and pharmaceutical delivery time is depicted under intuitionistic fuzzy uncertainty. Further, a novel interactive neutrosophic programming approach is developed to solve the proposed pharmaceutical supply chain management (PSCM) model. Each objective’s marginal evaluation is elicited by various sorts of membership functions such as linear, exponential and hyperbolic types of membership functions and depicted the truth, indeterminacy and falsity membership degrees under a neutrosophic environment.

The proposed PSCM model is implemented on a real case study and solved using an interactive neutrosophic programming approach that reveals the proposed methods’ validity and applicability. An ample opportunity to generate the compromise solution is suggested by tuning various parameters. The outcomes are evaluated with practical managerial implications based on the significant findings. Finally, conclusions and future research scope are addressed based on the proposed work.

The propounded study has some limitations that can be addressed in future research. The discussed PSCM model can be merged with and extended by considering environmental factors such as the health-care waste management system, which is not included in this study. Uncertainty among parameters due to randomness can be incorporated and can be tackled with historical data. Besides, proposed interactive neutrosophic programming approach (INPA), various metaheuristic approaches may be applied to solve the proposed PSCM model as a future research scope.

The strategy advised is to provide an opportunity to create supply chains and manufacturing within India by helping existing manufacturers to expand, identifying new manufacturers, hand-holding and facilitating, teams of officers, engineers and scientists deployed and import only if necessary to meet timelines. Thus, any pharmaceutical company or organization can adopt the production and distribution management initiatives amongst hospitals to strengthen and enable the pharmaceutical company while fighting fatal diseases during emergencies. Finally, managers or policy-makers can take advantage of the current study and extract fruitful pieces of information and knowledge regarding the optimal production and distribution strategies while making decisions.

This research work manifests the demand-oriented extension of the integrated PSCM design with maximum expected coverage, where different hospitals with pre-determined reliability values for various PIs are taken into consideration. The practical managerial implications are explored that immensely support the managers or practitioners to adopt the production and distribution policies for the PIs to ensure the sustainability in supply chain design.

This paper aims to evaluate the implementation of innovative programmes within the downstream domain of the pharmaceutical supply chain (PSC), with the aim of informing improved service provision.

A mixed-method approach was used to assess to what extent innovation could be adopted by hospital and community pharmacies to improve the delivery process of pharmaceutical products. Unstructured interviews and 130 questionnaires were collected and analysed to identify factors that facilitate or prevent innovation within PSC processes.

The analysis led to the creation of the innovative pharmaceutical supply chain framework (IPSCF) that provides guidance to health-care organisations about how supply chain management problems could be addressed by implementing innovative approaches. The results also indicated that the implementation of Lean and Reverse Logistics (RL) practices, supported by integrated information technology systems, can help health-care organisations to enhance their delivery in terms of quality (products and service quality), visibility (knowledge and information sharing), speed (response to customers and suppliers needs) and cost (minimisation of cost and waste).

The study’s recommendations have potential implications for supply chain theory and practice, particularly for pharmacies in terms of innovation adoption. The IPSCF provides guidance to pharmacies and health-care organisations to develop more efficient and effective supply chain strategies.

This research contributes to the academic literature as it adds novel theoretical insights to highly complex delivery process innovation.

Participatory research approaches often involve visual methods. However, when it comes to data analysis, the opportunities and challenges of participatory visual methods remain underexplored. A focus on the process of data collection, rather than the data itself, may lead to the omission of a formal analysis stage. In action-orientated research, analysis is often discussion-based and undocumented. As a result, the intended ‘meaning’ behind visual data may not be explicitly communicated to audiences. This chapter explores the ethical considerations of sharing raw visual data. It considers the significance of inter-textual meanings in the digital age, where pathways to accessing that data are highly individualised, and consequently constructed meanings may radically diverge from intended meanings. It also suggests how participatory research facilitators can minimise radical divergence between intention and interpretation.

The purpose of this work is the development of a structured case study design process for developing case studies in humanitarian logistics, in particular for short-term predictable disaster situations like floods and hurricanes. Moreover, useful public sources are presented in order to enable researchers to find relevant data for their case studies more easily.

A structured framework for case study design is set up, splitting the process into different steps and phases.

The framework is applied to an illustrative example, where case studies with different numbers and levels of detail of scenarios are designed based on the three-day forecast for hurricane Harvey in 2017. The corresponding solutions demonstrate the relevance of using as much forecast information as possible in case study building, and in particular in scenario design, in order to get useful and appropriate results.

The case study design process is mostly suitable for short-term predictable disasters, but can also be adapted to other types of disasters. The process has been applied to one specific hurricane here which serves as an example.

Also for practitioners, the results of this work are highly relevant, as constructing realistic cases using real data will lead to more useful results. Moreover, it is taken into account in the case study design process that relief agencies are regularly confronted with disasters in certain areas and hence need to define the basic planning situation and parameters “once and for all” and on a long-term basis, whereas disaster specific data from forecasts are only available within a short time frame.

The new design process can be applied by researchers as well as practitioners, and the publicly available data sources will be useful to the community.

Different approaches have tried to explain the multiple ways in which businesses engage in social‐purpose activities. The achievements and shortcomings of business social engagement in a country with complex socio‐political conditions like Colombia allows a rich description in two levels: a panorama of very diverse social initiatives, and an understanding of how particular companies have been able to put the market and the State to create social value. We contend that despite the tradition of business engagement in the betterment of Colombian society, collective action among businesses is yet to be achieved.