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The Institute of Medicine (IOM) views Health Information Technology (HIT) as an essential organizational prerequisite for the delivery of safe, reliable, and cost-effective health services. However, HIT presents the proverbial double-edged sword in generating solutions to improve system performance while facilitating the genesis of novel iatrogenic problems. Incongruent organizational processes give rise to technological iatrogenesis or the unintended consequences to system integrity and the resulting organizational outcomes potentiated by incongruent organizational–technological interfaces. HIT is a disruptive innovation for health services organizations but remains an overlooked organizational development (OD) concern.

Recognizing the technology–organizational misalignments that result from HIT adoption is important for leaders seeking to eliminate sources of system instability. The Health Information Technology Iatrogenesis Model (HITIM) provides leaders with a conceptual framework from which to consider HIT as an instrument for organizational development. Complexity and Diffusion of Innovation theories support the framework that suggests each HIT adoption functions as a technological change agent. As such, leaders need to provide operational oversight to managers undertaking system change via HIT implementation. Traditional risk management tools, such as Failure Mode Effect Analysis and Root Cause Analysis, provide proactive pre- and post-implementation appraisals to verify system stability and to enhance system reliability. Reconsidering the use of these tools within the context of a new framework offers leaders guidance when adopting HIT to achieve performance improvement and better outcomes.

Purpose – Over the last years, in the United States there has been significant increase in the consumption of pharmaceuticals for the treatment of mental disorders. More specifically, the number of clinical diagnosis of bipolar disorders in young people has increased by 40 times over the last 10 years. The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the growth of bipolar disorder diagnosis using a sociological frame.

Methodology/approach – The methodology is based on the concepts proposed by the ‘conflictualist’ perspective of medical sociology. Medicalization, that is, the extension of medical categories in everyday life, is the main concept on which the chapter is constructed. The ‘syndromization’ of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lowers the threshold above which someone may be diagnosed with bipolarism. Moreover, advertisements push people to seek for pharmaceutical treatment for conditions of ‘normal’ sadness.

Findings – This work shows the importance of the analysis of ‘medical’ phenomena by approaches taken from social sciences. Bipolar disorder can be a terrible and painful disease, but it seems that there is the possibility that it is over-diagnosed.

Contribution to the field – In this epidemics of diagnosis of bipolar disorder it is central to integrate the medical perspective with other dimensions: the classification of mental disease, the advertisement for drugs and the cultural aspects of a given society.

In 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) was signed into law. This Act, part of the broader “stimulus” legislation, represents the U.S.'s largest investment in health information technology (HIT) to date. More importantly, it sets a vision and provides a plan intended to transform the U.S. health care system to a safer, more efficient place to receive care. To that end, the Act seeks to fundamentally change the path HIT applications' adoption and implementation was taking to ensure that “meaningful use” and interoperability are achieved. However, such bold and sweeping changes will not come without unintended consequences, and their broad scope makes measuring the new public policy's success a challenge.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory (Demerouti et al., 2001; Bakker and Demerouti, 2017) is an appropriate conceptual framework for understanding the physical environment for work.

A conceptual analysis of the multidisciplinary workplace literature was performed to assess the core propositions of JD-R theory as they relate to the workplace environment.

The analysis confirms that the workplace environment can be viewed as a composite of environmental demands (which instigate a health impairment process) and environmental resources (which trigger an engagement process). Employees proactively try to improve the suitability of their workspace through environmental crafting, motivated by minimising demands and maximising resources.

The application of JD-R theory to the workplace environment fills a gap in the literature for a framework which captures the dynamic nature of the employee-workplace relationship.

The biomedical paradigm enjoys growing importance in our society. Biomedicine (e.g., Genetics) seems to occupy the position once held by religion and politics. In this context, every trivial problem of daily life is thought to require an appropriate remedy, and perfect health becomes a paramount value, especially within the upper class.

Medicalization is not only promoted by doctors. Today, other engines of medicalization are also available. These include pharmaceutical companies through marketing, advertising, and disease mongering; active consumers who seek a pharmacological solution – a magic bullet – to solve non-organic problems; technology, because highly sensitive diagnostic tools can now detect potential abnormalities even in very low quantities; and the culture of risk, which is connected to the evolution of diagnostic tools, because it is now always possible to be at risk of something.

The parts of life today considered pathological or quasi-pathological are ever increasing shyness, sadness, imperfect blood pressure, or glucose levels. Progressing editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) – the text from which diagnoses of mental illnesses are made – reveal a growing number of syndromes. These “diseases” are diagnosed on the grounds of certain symptoms and the number of weeks they last (quantification). Smartphones, with their tremendous capacity for data collection, contribute to a growth in self-diagnoses. For example, invited to log our every moment of sadness through a “trustworthy” avatar from our app (gamification), we can easily make too much of normal moments of discomfort, immediately seeing them – with a simple computation – transformed into something pathological in need of a cure.

Recent reports by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) signal a substantial yet unrealized deficit in patient safety innovation and improvement. With the aim of reducing this dilemma, we provide an introductory account of clinical error resulting from poorly designed systems by reviewing the relevant health care, management, psychology, and organizational accident sciences literature. First, we discuss the concept of health care error and describe two approaches to analyze error proliferation and causation. Next, by applying transdisciplinary evidence and knowledge to health care, we detail the attributes fundamental to constructing safer health care systems as embedded components within the complex adaptive environment. Then, the Health Care Error Proliferation Model explains the sequence of events typically leading to adverse outcomes, emphasizing the role that organizational and external cultures contribute to error identification, prevention, mitigation, and defense construction. Subsequently, we discuss the critical contribution health care leaders can make to address error as they strive to position their institution as a high reliability organization (HRO). Finally, we conclude that the future of patient safety depends on health care leaders adopting a system philosophy of error management, investigation, mitigation, and prevention. This change is accomplished when leaders apply the basic organizational accident and health care safety principles within their respective organizations.

Tackles the subject of National Health Service (NHS) reforms in the UK which have forced hospitals to behave more like businesses, for example, many are now looking at the cost of quality in health care. Examines the quality initiatives supported by the Department of Health and covers the work done by the NHS management executive. Investigates areas where cost of quality is high, as well as investigating the costs of failure.

The purpose of this paper is to review current programmes and major issues surrounding preventive interventions for body image and obesity in schools.

A literature review was carried out by analysing papers cited in major literature databases from the last 50 years. This review describes and summarises activities from body image programmes and eating disorder prevention programmes in schools and outlines self esteem and media literacy approaches that have produced positive results in some large, randomised and controlled interventions.

A total of 21 programmes met the inclusion criteria. Of these, four included males and 17 reported at least one improvement in knowledge, beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. The most effective programmes were interactive, involved parents, built self esteem and provided media literacy.

Body image concerns, eating problems and obesity among children and adolescents are becoming increasingly targeted for preventive health education and health promotion programmes. The role of health educators is complicated because of legitimate concerns that we must “do no harm” in our efforts to ameliorate both issues in schools. Health educators need to be careful to ensure that the implementation of programmes for the prevention of child obesity do not inadvertently create food concerns, body image issues, weight stigma, prejudice or eating disorders. Similarly, eating disorder prevention programmes must take care both not to condone obesity nor to glamorise or normalise dieting or disordered eating.

This paper provides health educators with an overview of important issues and suitable strategies to consider when implementing programmes for body image improvement and the prevention of eating problems and childhood obesity.