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The purpose of this paper is to examine patient engagement in remote consultation services, an increasingly important issue facing Healthcare Operations Management (HOM) given the significant expansion in this and other forms of telehealth worldwide over the last decade. We use our analysis of the literature to develop a comprehensive framework that incorporates the patient journey, multidimensionality, antecedents and consequences, interventions and improvement options, as well as the cyclic nature of patient engagement. We also propose measures suitable for empirical assessment of different aspects of our framework.

We undertook a comprehensive review of the extant literature using a systematic review approach. We identified and analysed 63 articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals between 2003 and 2022.

We conceptualise patient engagement with remote consultation across three key aspects: dimensions, process, and the antecedents and consequences of engagement. We identify nine contextual categories that influence such engagement. We propose several possible metrics for measuring patient engagement during three stages (before service, at/during service and after service) of remote consultation, as well as interventions and possible options for improving patient engagement therein.

The primary contribution of our research is the development of a comprehensive framework for patient engagement in remote consultation that draws on insights from literature in several disciplines. In addition, we have linked the three dimensions of engagement with the clinical process to create a structure for future engagement assessment. Furthermore, we have identified impact factors and outcomes of engagement in remote consultation by understanding which can help to improve levels of adoption, application and satisfaction, and reduce healthcare inequality. Finally, we have adopted a “cyclic” perspective and identified potential interventions that can be combined to further improve patient engagement in remote consultation.

Technology-enabled healthcare focuses on providing better information flow and coordination in healthcare operations. Technology-enabled health services enable hospitals to manage their resources effectively, maintain continuous patient engagement and provide seamless services without compromising their perceived quality.

This study investigates the role of technology-enabled health services in improving perceived healthcare quality among patients. Data are collected from the users (n = 418) of health platforms offered in multi-specialty hospitals. Multiple learners are employed to accurately represent the users' perceived quality regarding the perceived usefulness of the features provided via these digital health platforms.

The best-fitted model using a decision tree classifier (accuracy = 0.86) derives the accurate significance of features offered in the digital health platform in fostering perceived healthcare quality. Diet and lifestyle recommendations (30%) and chatting with health professionals (11%) are the top features offered in digital health platforms that primarily influence the perceived quality of healthcare among users.

The predictability of perceived quality with the individual features existing in the digital health platform, the significance of the features on the perceived healthcare quality and the prediction rules showing the combined effect of features on healthcare quality can help healthcare managers accelerate digital transformation in hospitals by improving their digital health platform, designing and offering new health packages while strengthening their e-infrastructure.

The study represents perceived healthcare quality with the features offered in digital health platforms using machine learners based on users' post-pandemic experience. By advancing digital platforms with more patient-centric features using emerging technologies, this model can further foresee its impact on the perceived quality of healthcare, offering valuable directions to healthcare service providers. The study is limited to focusing on digital health platforms that can deal with people's general healthcare needs.

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for people of all ages underscores the vital role of public healthcare facilities (PHFs) in delivering essential healthcare services. However, these facilities often suffer from inadequate maintenance, exacerbated by the insufficient implementation of maintenance strategies. Recognizing the importance of PHFs in enhancing healthcare services, this paper investigates the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) in the maintenance strategies of PHFs in South Africa.

Through semi-structured interviews with nineteen purposively selected maintenance personnel from the Limpopo Department of Health (DoH), this study identified and analyzed the CSFs to enhance maintenance operations in PHFs. Thematic content analysis was employed to derive key insights from the collected data.

The study's findings highlight adequate maintenance planning and effective leadership as the two overarching CSFs in the maintenance of PHFs. These factors play a pivotal role in addressing challenges that hinder the current maintenance team from meeting maintenance requirements to the satisfaction of both staff and patients within PHFs.

The study offers valuable insights for policymakers to improve the effectiveness of maintenance operations in PHFs. By addressing the identified CSFs, policymakers can enhance maintenance operations in PHFs, positively impacting healthcare service delivery and the well-being of both staff and patients.

Implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare organizations involves the entire organization. This groundbreaking technology is becoming central to achieve the goals of the new healthcare through the ongoing commitment to sustainability despite the severe lack of resources. Decision-makers in healthcare need knowledge and skills to prepare for the changes in many professional activities in the years ahead. Furthermore, chief medical officers and clinical leaders need to act on the opportunities that AI can bring, starting from its integration into the reality of healthcare settings while working with those responsible for managing and implementing AI in compliance with current legislation in Europe and the United States. Finally, stakeholders need to know how to leverage AI capabilities and how to recognize its limitations and its opportunities in administrative applications (admin AI) to optimize day-to-day operations and clinical applications (non-admin AI). In this view, clinical leaders and health care decision-makers may appreciate AI as a new way to provide sustainable social and healthcare services.

This study aims to investigate the mediating roles of servant leadership and employee vitality in the relationship between psychological ownership and employee creativity among healthcare workers in Ghana.

A sample of 736 public and private healthcare respondents was selected using a convenience sampling technique. Data collected using a self-reported questionnaire was analyzed via partial least square structural equation modeling.

The findings reveal that psychological ownership directly improves employee creativity, while servant leadership and employee vitality mediate the relationship between psychological ownership and employee creativity separately and complementarily.

The research used self-reported data, increasing the potential for common method variance. However, sufficient care was taken to minimize these limitations.

This research makes valuable contributions to the field of healthcare practice literature. The findings suggest that management of health care entities should focus on creating a workplace culture that cultivates psychological ownership among employees and policies that enhance employee vitality and promote servant behavior to foster employee creativity.

This study represents one of the earliest attempts to examine a theoretical framework that connects servant leadership, employee vitality, employee creativity and psychological ownership within the context of the health service industry.

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore how medical secretaries experience digital transformation in a Swedish healthcare organisation, with a focus on workplace climate and health.

Data were collected using a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design based on grounded theory, with qualitative data collection (a Quality Café and individual interviews) followed by quantitative data collection (a questionnaire).

Four categories with seven underlying factors were identified, emphasising the crucial need for effective organisation of digital transformation. This is vital due to the increased knowledge and skills in utilising technology. The evolving roles and responsibilities of medical secretaries in dynamic healthcare settings should be clearly defined and acknowledged, highlighting the importance of professionality. Ensuring proper training for medical secretaries and other occupations in emerging techniques is crucial, emphasising equal value and knowledge across each role. Associations were found between some factors and the health of medical secretaries.

This study adds to the knowledge on digital transformation in healthcare by examining an important occupation. Most data were collected online, which may be a limitation of this study.

Several aspects of the medical secretaries’ experiences were identified. Knowledge of these is valuable for healthcare managers to make digital transformation more effective while avoiding excessive strain on medical secretaries.

Medical secretaries are expected to contribute to the digitalisation of healthcare. However, minimal research has been conducted on the role of medical secretaries in workplace digitalisation, focusing on workplace roles and its dynamics.

The study aims to explore the utilisation of Clinical Decision Support (CDS) tools in Tanzanian healthcare facilities by identifying the tools used, the challenges encountered and the adaptive strategies employed by healthcare practitioners. It utilises an Activity Theory (AT) approach to understand the dynamic interactions between healthcare providers, CDS tools and the broader healthcare system.

The research adopts a qualitative approach in two prominent regions of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam and Dodoma. It involves semi-structured interviews with 26 healthcare professionals and key stakeholders across ten healthcare facilities, supplemented by document reviews. The study employs AT to analyse the interactions between healthcare professionals, CDS tools and the broader healthcare system, identifying best practices and providing recommendations for optimising the use of CDS tools.

The study reveals that Tanzanian healthcare practitioners predominantly rely on non-computerised CDS tools, such as clinical guidelines prepared by the Ministry of Health. Despite the availability of Health Information Systems (HIS), these systems often lack comprehensive decision-support functionalities, leading practitioners to depend on traditional methods and their professional judgement. Significant challenges include limited accessibility to updated clinical guidelines, unreliable infrastructure and inadequate training. Adaptive strategies identified include using non-standardised tools like Medscape, professional judgement and reliance on past experiences and colleagues’ opinions.

The investigation was constrained by access limitations because it was challenging to get some respondents to share information. However, a sufficient number of individuals participated in the interviews, and their knowledge was very beneficial in understanding the procedures and tools for clinical decision support.

This study contributes to AT by extending its application to a low-resource healthcare setting, uncovering new dimensions of the theory related to socio-cultural and technological constraints in healthcare facilities in Tanzania. It provides valuable insights into the practical barriers and facilitators of HIS and CDS tool implementation in developing countries, emphasising the need for context-specific adaptations, robust training programs and user-centred designs. The findings highlight the resilience and imagination of healthcare practitioners in adapting to systemic limitations, offering recommendations to enhance clinical decision-making and improve patient care outcomes in Tanzania.

This study investigates the pathways for adopting IoTs and BDA technologies to improve healthcare management.

The study relied on 445 healthcare professionals' perspectives to explore different causal pathways to IoTs and BDA adoption and usage for daily healthcare management. The Fussy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis was adopted to explore the underlying pathways for healthcare management.

The empirical analysis revealed six different configural paths influencing the acceptance and use of IoTs and BDA for healthcare improvement. Two key user topologies from the six configural paths, digital literacy and ease of use and social influence and behavioural intentions, mostly affect the paths for using digital health technologies by healthcare physicians.

Despite this study's novel contributions, limitations include the fsQCA methodology, perceptual data and the context of the study. The fsQCA methodology is still evolving with different interpretations, although it reveals new insights and as such further studies are required to explain the configural paths of social phenomena. Additionally, future research should consider other constructs beyond the UTAUT and digital literacy to illustrate configural paths to healthcare technology acceptance and usage. Again, the views of healthcare professionals are perceptual data. Hence future research on operational data will support significant contributions towards pathways to accept and use emerging technologies for healthcare improvement. Lastly, this study is from a developing country perspective where emerging digital healthcare technology is still emerging to support healthcare management. Hence, more investigation from other cross-country analyses of configural paths for digital technology deployment in healthcare will enhance the conversation with IoTs and BDA for healthcare management.

Holistically, the acceptance and use of healthcare technologies and platforms is not solely on their capabilities, but a combination of distinct factors driven by users' perspectives. This offers healthcare administrators and institutions to essentially reflect on the distinct combinations of conditions favourable to health professionals who can use IoTs and BDA for healthcare improvement.

This study is among the few scholarly works to empirically investigate the configural paths to support healthcare improvement with emerging technologies. Using fsQCA is a unique contribution to existing information system literature for configural paths for healthcare improvement with emerging digital technologies.

The purpose of this study is to comprehensively explore the impact of digitalization on healthcare supply chains (HcSCs). It seeks to understand how digital technologies enhance efficiency, transparency and responsiveness within these complex logistical systems. The study aims to provide a holistic view of the transformative potential of digitalization in the healthcare sector, with a particular focus on improving patient care and streamlining operational processes.

This research employs a systematic review methodology, carefully curating a selection of 45 relevant articles from 66 articles rigorously screened using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology to provide a holistic view. It follows established systematic review protocols, incorporating a meticulous search strategy and precise keyword selection. The chosen research design enables a comprehensive examination of the existing body of knowledge concerning digital platforms, real-time tracking technologies, transparency and responsiveness in the context of HcSCs.

The findings of this study emphasize the pivotal role of digital technologies in reshaping HcSCs. Digital platforms, real-time tracking systems and technological integrations substantially enhance efficiency, transparency and responsiveness. Data-driven decision-making, improved communication and agile responses to dynamic demands are key aspects. These findings underscore the transformative impact of digitalization on healthcare logistics, emphasizing the potential for streamlined operations, enhanced patient care and more efficient resource allocation.

Despite the systematic methodology, this study is subject to certain limitations. It relies on existing literature, which may not cover the most recent developments in the rapidly evolving field of digital HcSCs. Furthermore, the study may be influenced by publication bias. The implications suggest the need for continued research to explore emerging digital technologies and their effects on healthcare logistics, ensuring that supply chains remain agile and responsive.

The practical implications of this research are significant for HcSC managers with insights into digital technologies to enhance transparency and collaboration and improve resource visibility. The integration of data analytics can lead to more effective inventory management and demand forecasting. Blockchain (BC) technology can ensure transparent and secure transactions, fostering trust among stakeholders. For practitioners, this research offers actionable guidance for navigating the digital age, promoting operational efficiency and ensuring a consistent supply of essential medical products. Researchers can use these insights as a foundation for further exploration into the potential of digitalization in HcSCs.

The social implications of digitalization in HcSCs are far-reaching. They encompass improved patient care, as digital technologies enhance the efficiency, transparency and responsiveness of supply chains. This translates to better access to critical medical supplies, potentially reducing healthcare disparities and benefiting underserved populations. Enhanced patient safety is a significant social outcome, as transparent and secure transactions enabled by technologies like BC mitigate the risks associated with counterfeit medications. Furthermore, digitalization builds trust among stakeholders, promotes accountability and fosters resilient healthcare systems, which are capable of responding effectively to crises. It also has the potential to make healthcare more affordable, contributing to increased healthcare access and transparency in decision-making.

The originality and value of this study lie in its comprehensive synthesis of diverse findings related to digitalization in HcSCs. While prior studies have examined isolated facets of digital technology adoption, this research provides a comprehensive overview. It contributes to a deeper understanding of the transformative potential of digitalization within the healthcare sector, offering practical approaches to enhance patient care and streamline operations.

The healthcare sector relies on knowledge management systems to improve knowledge flows and effectively capture, leverage and share knowledge with several organizational stakeholders. However, knowledge as a resource represents a social construct that involves additional managerial complexities and challenges, including undesirable knowledge behaviours. The aim of the current study is to provide insight on how knowledge management systems, knowledge hoarding, knowledge hiding and task conflict shape the quality of care provided by hospitals. We propose and test an original revealing model.

We follow a quantitative approach to address the structural relationship between variables using a combination of factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. The model is tested adopting a structural equation modelling approach and using survey data conducted to 318 healthcare professionals working in Portuguese hospitals.

The main findings suggest that knowledge hiding is positively related to task conflict in hospitals, and task conflict negatively influences quality of care. Knowledge management systems directly and indirectly (via knowledge hoarding) promote quality of care. Moreover, knowledge management systems also mitigate the negative influence of task conflict over quality of care. We propose a final corollary on the relevant role of HRM as the backstage for the model.

Our research offers a novel insight into an overlap of organizational behaviour and healthcare management research. It provides an original framework on knowledge management systems, counterproductive knowledge behaviours and task conflict in hospital settings.

Our research offers a novel insight into an overlap of organizational behaviour and healthcare management research. It provides an original framework on knowledge management systems, counterproductive knowledge behaviours and task conflict in hospital settings.