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Article
Publication date: 6 September 2011

411

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol. 24 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0952-6862

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 July 2008

Tom C.M. Joosten, Inge M.B. Bongers and Ir Bert R. Meijboom

The article discusses how care programmes and integrated care pathways can be linked, finding ways to improve healthcare process professional and logistical quality from a supply…

1651

Abstract

Purpose

The article discusses how care programmes and integrated care pathways can be linked, finding ways to improve healthcare process professional and logistical quality from a supply chain and a network point‐of‐view.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors argue that owing to cost containment goals and increasing healthcare demand, healthcare services systems are challenged to improve service quality, whilst at the same time finding ways to improve delivery processes. It explores if the combination of two instruments, care programmes and integrated care pathways, can meet both goals. This combination is illustrated by an example from the Institute of Mental Health Care Eindhoven en de Kempen.

Findings

Analysis suggests that care programmes can be combined with integrated care pathways, leading to a situation where both quality and process improvement can be reached. These instruments are complementary.

Research limitations/implications

The article is largely conceptual; ideas are presented to stimulate thinking rather than to prove an argument.

Practical implications

Combining care programmes and integrated care pathways has implications for the way we think about and organise healthcare processes.

Originality/value

There have been few publications on instruments combining both a network and a supply chain approach to describe and understand healthcare processes.

Details

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol. 21 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0952-6862

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 29 January 2018

Jari Vuori, Marika Kylänen and Santtu Mikkonen

The chapter aims to compare public, private and non-profit working citizens’ preferences for cross-sectoral relations in England and Finland. Its main contribution is in…

Abstract

The chapter aims to compare public, private and non-profit working citizens’ preferences for cross-sectoral relations in England and Finland. Its main contribution is in identifying preferences in the delivery of services in the respective countries in which citizen choice has become an issue in times of public sector austerity. Challenges arise because in these two similarly institutionalized healthcare systems but pluralistic societies people have contrasting perspectives on the values that should guide policy decisions. The survey data was therefore collected in both England (N = 2,000) and Finland (N = 1,973) in 2013 from cities in which citizens have choices regarding health service delivery. Our informants in England anticipated more potential for better ‘privatized driven public interest’ than did those in Finland. Surprisingly, over 60% of public sector employees in England would like for-profit healthcare to carry main responsibility, and almost 55% of all employees agree with this. Almost 20% of respondents in both countries did not care who the service provider is if only services are available. Thus, the research has pioneering relevance for policymaking, public strategic management and the comparative empirical study of managing people’s preferences in cross-sectoral relations. We conclude that identifying working citizens’ preferences is crucial for effective utilization of current welfare services because the preferences derive from both service and work experience. In sum, strategically, this identification lets public managers balance biased images of the cross-sectoral differences and reconstruct functional hybridity of services.

Details

Cross-Sectoral Relations in the Delivery of Public Services
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-172-0

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 7 February 2024

Anne M. Hewitt

At the beginning of the 21st century, multiple and diverse social entities, including the public (consumers), private and nonprofit healthcare institutions, government (public…

Abstract

At the beginning of the 21st century, multiple and diverse social entities, including the public (consumers), private and nonprofit healthcare institutions, government (public health) and other industry sectors, began to recognize the limitations of the current fragmented healthcare system paradigm. Primary stakeholders, including employers, insurance companies, and healthcare professional organizations, also voiced dissatisfaction with unacceptable health outcomes and rising costs. Grand challenges and wicked problems threatened the viability of the health sector. American health systems responded with innovations and advances in healthcare delivery frameworks that encouraged shifts from intra- and inter-sector arrangements to multi-sector, lasting relationships that emphasized patient centrality along with long-term commitments to sustainability and accountability. This pathway, leading to a population health approach, also generated the need for transformative business models. The coproduction of health framework, with its emphasis on cross-sector alignments, nontraditional partner relationships, sustainable missions, and accountability capable of yielding return on investments, has emerged as a unique strategy for facing disruptive threats and challenges from nonhealth sector corporations. This chapter presents a coproduction of health framework, goals and criteria, examples of boundary spanning network alliance models, and operational (integrator, convener, aggregator) strategies. A comparison of important organizational science theories, including institutional theory, network/network analysis theory, and resource dependency theory, provides suggestions for future research directions necessary to validate the utility of the coproduction of health framework as a precursor for paradigm change.

Article
Publication date: 16 August 2019

Terrylyna Baffoe-Bonnie, Samuel Kojo Ntow, Kwasi Awuah-Werekoh and Augustine Adomah-Afari

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of health system factors on access to a quality healthcare among prisoners in Ghana.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of health system factors on access to a quality healthcare among prisoners in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were gathered using different qualitative methods (interviews and participant observation) with staff of the James Camp Prison, Accra. Findings were analyzed using a framework method for the thematic analysis of the semi-structured interview data; and interpreted with the theoretical perspective of health systems thinking and innovation.

Findings

The study concludes that health system factors such as inadequate funding for health services, lack of skilled personnel and a paucity of essential medical supplies and drugs negatively affected the quality of healthcare provided to inmates.

Research limitations/implications

The limited facilities available and the sample size (healthcare workers and prison administrators) impeded the achievement of varied views on the topic.

Practical implications

The paper recommends the need for health policy makers and authorities of the Ghana Prison Service to collaborate and coordinate in a unified way to undertake policy analysis in an effort to reform the prisons healthcare system.

Social implications

The national health insurance scheme was found to be the financing option for prisoners’ access to free healthcare with supplementation from the Ghana Prison Service. The study recommends that policy makers and healthcare stakeholders should understand and appreciate the reality that the provision of a quality healthcare for prisoners is part of the entire system of healthcare service delivery in Ghana and as such should be given the needed attention.

Originality/value

This is one of few studies conducted on male only prisoners/prison in the context of Ghana. It recommends the need for an integrated approach to ensure that the entire healthcare system achieves set objectives in response to the primary healthcare concept.

Details

International Journal of Prisoner Health, vol. 15 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-9200

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 December 2021

Sabina De Rosis, Chiara Barchielli, Milena Vainieri and Nicola Bellé

User experience is key for measuring and improving the quality of services, especially in high personal and relation-intensive sectors, such as healthcare. However, evidence on…

4370

Abstract

Purpose

User experience is key for measuring and improving the quality of services, especially in high personal and relation-intensive sectors, such as healthcare. However, evidence on whether and how the organizational model of healthcare service delivery can affect the patient experience is at an early stage. This study investigates the relationship between healthcare service provision models and patient experience by focusing on the nursing care delivery.

Design/methodology/approach

65 nurses' coordinators were involved to map the nursing models adopted in the healthcare organizations of in an Italian region, Tuscany. This dataset was merged with patient experience measures reported by 9,393 individuals discharged by the same organizations and collected through a Patient-Reported Experience Measures Observatory. The authors run a series of logistic regression models to test the relationships among variables.

Findings

Patients appreciate those characteristics of care delivery related to a specific professional nurse. Having someone who is in charge of the patient, both the reference nurse and the supervisor, makes a real difference. Purely organizational features, for instance those referring to the team working, do not significantly predict an excellent experience with healthcare services.

Research limitations/implications

Different features referring to different nursing models make the difference in producing an excellent user experience with the service.

Practical implications

These findings can support managers and practitioners in taking decisions on the service delivery models to adopt. Instead of applying monolithic pure models, mixing features of different models into a hybrid one seems more effective in meeting users' expectations.

Originality/value

This is one of the first studies on the relationship between provision models of high-contact and relational-intensive services (the healthcare services) and users' experience. This research contributes to the literature on healthcare service management suggesting to acknowledge the importance of hybridization of features from different, purely theoretical service delivery models, in order to fit with providers' practice and users' expectations.

Highlights

  • This is one of the first studies on the relationship between provision models of nursing care and patient experience.

  • Healthcare services' users appreciate service delivery characteristics identified with “be cared by,” or in other words with having a reference nurse.

  • Nursing models' features that relate to the organizations and that providers tend to judge as professionalizing and evolutive, such as team working, appear not key in relation to patient experience.

  • Pure models of service delivery are theoretically useful, but hybrid models can better meet users' expectations.

This is one of the first studies on the relationship between provision models of nursing care and patient experience.

Healthcare services' users appreciate service delivery characteristics identified with “be cared by,” or in other words with having a reference nurse.

Nursing models' features that relate to the organizations and that providers tend to judge as professionalizing and evolutive, such as team working, appear not key in relation to patient experience.

Pure models of service delivery are theoretically useful, but hybrid models can better meet users' expectations.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 36 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 December 2018

Fred Ahrens, David Dobrzykowski and William Sawaya

Manufacturers find bottom of the pyramid (BOP) markets challenging to serve due to low margins and highly localized needs. As such, residents in BOP markets often go without…

Abstract

Purpose

Manufacturers find bottom of the pyramid (BOP) markets challenging to serve due to low margins and highly localized needs. As such, residents in BOP markets often go without products commonly available in developed countries. Going without medical equipment may negatively affect healthcare services. This study develops a supply chain design strategy that supports the production of medical equipment by preserving variety flexibility at low volumes that stands to create new market opportunities for manufacturers and improve healthcare for residents in BOP markets.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors introduce a mass-customization model called options-based planning (OBP) which offers a framework to both leverage the efficiencies of high volume production models and provide products that are customized to local market needs. An empirical simulation, grounded in data collected from a large international manufacturer of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment, illustrates how an OBP production strategy will likely perform under BOP conditions and facilitate the delivery of healthcare equipment to BOP markets.

Findings

OBP provides a means for manufacturers to provide the customization necessary to serve fragmented BOP markets, while enabling higher production volume to make serving these markets more feasible. The empirical simulation reveals the relative benefits of OBP under conditions of forecast uncertainty, product complexity (number of design parameters) and different levels of responsiveness.

Social implications

Increased access to modern medical equipment should improve healthcare outcomes for consumers in BOP markets.

Originality/value

The MRI context in BOP markets serves to illustrate the value of the OBP model for manufacturers.

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 49 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-0035

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 24 July 2020

Soo-Hoon Lee, Thomas W. Lee and Phillip H. Phan

Workplace voice is well-established and encompasses behaviors such as prosocial voice, informal complaints, grievance filing, and whistleblowing, and it focuses on interactions…

Abstract

Workplace voice is well-established and encompasses behaviors such as prosocial voice, informal complaints, grievance filing, and whistleblowing, and it focuses on interactions between the employee and supervisor or the employee and the organizational collective. In contrast, our chapter focuses on employee prosocial advocacy voice (PAV), which the authors define as prosocial voice behaviors aimed at preventing harm or promoting constructive changes by advocating on behalf of others. In the context of a healthcare organization, low quality and unsafe patient care are salient and objectionable states in which voice can motivate actions on behalf of the patient to improve information exchanges, governance, and outreach activities for safer outcomes. The authors draw from the theory and research on responsibility to intersect with theories on information processing, accountability, and stakeholders that operate through voice between the employee-patient, employee-coworker, and employee-profession, respectively, to propose a model of PAV in patient-centered healthcare. The authors complete the model by suggesting intervening influences and barriers to PAV that may affect patient-centered outcomes.

Details

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-076-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 February 2023

Helen Dion and Martin Evans

The issue of energy efficiency is becoming increasingly prevalent globally due to factors such as the expansion of the population, economic growth and excessive consumption that…

1216

Abstract

Purpose

The issue of energy efficiency is becoming increasingly prevalent globally due to factors such as the expansion of the population, economic growth and excessive consumption that is not sustainable in the long run. Additionally, healthcare facilities and hospitals are facing challenges as their operational costs continue to rise. The research aim is to develop strategic frameworks for managing green hospitals, towards energy efficiency and corporate governance in hospitals and healthcare facilities.

Design/methodology/approach

This research employs a qualitative case study approach, with a sample of ten hospitals examined through interviews with senior management, executives and healthcare facilities managers. Relevant data was also collected from literature and analysed through critical appraisal and content analysis. The research methodology is based on the use of grounded theory research methodologies to build theories from case studies.

Findings

The research developed three integrated conceptual strategic frameworks for managing hospitals and healthcare facilities towards energy efficiency, green hospital initiatives and corporate governance. The research also outlined the concepts of green hospitals and energy efficiency management systems and best practices based on the conclusions drawn from the investigated case studies.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited to the initiatives and experiences of the healthcare facilities studied in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Originality/value

The research findings, conclusions, recommendations and proposed frameworks and concepts contribute significantly to the existing body of knowledge. This research also provides recommendations for hospital managers and policymakers on how to effectively implement and manage energy efficiency initiatives in healthcare facilities.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 31 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 April 2016

Aoife M. McDermott and Anne Reff Pedersen

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, it sets the context for the special issue by considering conceptions of patients and their roles in service delivery and improvement…

1702

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, it sets the context for the special issue by considering conceptions of patients and their roles in service delivery and improvement. Second, it introduces the contributions to the special issue, and identifies thematic resonance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper utilises a literature synthesis and thematic analysis of the special issue submissions. These emanated from the Ninth International Organisational Behaviour in Healthcare Conference, hosted by Copenhagen Business School on behalf of the Learned Society for Studies in Organizing Healthcare.

Findings

The articles evidence a range of perspectives on patients’ roles in healthcare. These range from their being subject to, a mobilising focus for, and active participants in service delivery and improvement. Building upon the potential patient roles identified, this editorial develops five “ideal type” patient positions in healthcare delivery and improvement. These recognise that patients’ engagement with health care services is influenced both by personal characteristics and circumstances, which affect patients’ openness to engaging with health services, as well as the opportunities afforded to patients to engage, by organisations and their employees.

Originality/value

The paper explores the relationally embedded nature of patient involvement in healthcare, inherent in the interdependence between patient and providers’ roles. The typology aims to prompt discussion regarding the conceptualisation patients’ roles in healthcare organisations, and the individual, employee, organisational and contextual factors that may help and hinder their involvement in service delivery and improvement. The authors close by noting four areas meriting further research attention, and potentially useful theoretical lenses.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

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