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The primary objective of this article is to examine current procurement, inventory control and management practices in modern healthcare, with a particular focus on the procurement and management of surgical supplies in a prominent public, highly specialized healthcare sector.

This study was conducted in three phases. In Phase 1, the study team interacted with various hospital management stakeholders, including the surgical hospital store, examined the current procurement process and identified challenges. Phase 2 focused on selecting items for a detailed study and collected the qualitative and quantitative details of the store department of the healthcare sector chosen. A detailed study analyzed revenue, output/demand, inventory levels, etc. In Phase 3, a decision-making framework is proposed, and inventory control systems are redesigned and demonstrated for the selected items.

It was observed that the demand for many surgical items had increased significantly over the years due to an increase in disposable/disposable items, while inventories fluctuated widely. Maximum inventory levels varied between 50 and 75%. Storage and availability were important issues for the hospital. It is assumed the hospital adopts the proposed inventory control system. In this case, the benefits can be a saving of 62% of the maximum inventory, 20% of the average stock in the system and optimal use of storage space, improving the performance and productivity of the hospital.

This study can help the healthcare sector administration to develop better systems for the procurement and delivery of common surgical items and efficient resource allocation. It can help provide adequate training to store staff. This study can help improve management/procurement policies, ordering and delivery systems, better service levels, and inventory control of items in the hospital business context. This study can serve as a pilot study to further investigate the overall hospital operations.

This study can help the healthcare sector administration develop better systems for procuring and delivering common surgical items and efficient resource allocation. It can help provide adequate training to store staff. This study can help improve management/procurement policies, ordering and delivery systems, better service levels and inventory control of items in the hospital business context. This study can serve as a pilot study to further investigate the overall hospital operations.

This study is an early attempt to develop a decision framework and inventory control system from the perspective of healthcare inventory management. The gaps identified in real hospital scenarios are investigated, and theoretically based-inventory management strategies are applied and proposed.

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementation follows a structured approach called define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC). Earlier research about its application in emergency healthcare services shows that it requires organizational transformation, which many healthcare setups find difficult. The Kotter change management model facilitates organizational transformation but has not been attempted in LSS settings till now. This study aims to integrate the LSS framework with the Kotter change management model to come up with an integrated framework that will facilitate LSS deployment in emergency health services.

Two-stage Delphi method was conducted by using a literature review. First, the success factors and barriers of LSS are investigated, especially from an emergency healthcare point of view. The features and benefits of Kotter's change management models are then reviewed. Subsequently, they are integrated to form a framework specific to LSS deployment in an emergency healthcare set-up. The elements of this framework are analyzed using expert opinion ratings. A new framework for LSS deployment in emergency healthcare has been developed, which can prevent failures due to challenges faced by organizations in overcoming resistance to changes.

The eight steps of the Kotter model such as establishing a sense of urgency, forming a powerful guiding coalition, creating a vision, communicating the vision, empowering others to act on the vision, planning for and creating short-term wins, consolidating improvements and producing still more change, institutionalizing new approaches are derived from the eight common errors that managers make while implementing change in the institution. The study integrated LSS principles and Kotter’s change management model to apply in emergency care units in order to reduce waste and raise the level of service quality provided by healthcare companies.

The present study could contribute knowledge to the literature by providing a framework to integrate lean management and Kotter's change management model for the emergency care unit of the healthcare organization. This framework guides decision-makers and organizations as proper strategies are required for applying lean management practices in any system.

The proposed framework is unique and no other study has prescribed any integrated framework for LSS implementation in emergency healthcare that overcomes resistance to change.

The aim of this paper is to analyse how technological innovations in performance measurement systems make it possible to overcome some of the challenges that public healthcare organizations face where management and control are concerned. The changes that could be applied to the performance measurement system of healthcare organisations were analysed together with an evaluation of the responses developed in order to achieve these changes.

The paper contains an in-depth case-study of a public university hospital which utilises an innovative information system.

The case-study highlights how technological innovations in performance measurement systems impact the management and monitoring information system in a public university hospital, through the implementation of a multidimensional management dashboard.

The limitation of this paper is that only one case-study is analysed, albeit in depth, while it would be interesting to consider more public university hospitals.

The paper highlights the fundamental role of middle management in change processes in the healthcare sector.

The case-study highlights how critical the active involvement of middle management is in performance measurement and management, and how this is achieved thanks to the adoption of a simple, clear method which ensures comprehensible communication of the objectives, as well as the measurement of performance by means of radar plots.

This paper aims to provide a history of graduate healthcare management education in the USA with an emphasis on the comparison of business schools and health science settings. It seeks to explain why different organizational cultures exist and how this affects education.

The approach relies on literature review and descriptive analysis using secondary data. Institutional economics helps provide perspective on different academic cultures and orientations.

Healthcare management education originated in the early twentieth century. Business schools at the University of Chicago and Northwestern were early pioneers. By mid‐century, schools of public health and medicine entered and came to dominate with strong graduate programs at Berkeley, Michigan and other leading universities. More recently, business schools have differentiated away from the generic MBA and expanded into this market. Advocates of health science settings commonly see healthcare as different from other forms of management. The externally funded model of medical education relying on patient and grant revenues dominates the health sciences. This can lead to preference for faculty who generate funds and a neglect of core academic areas that historically have not relied on grants and contracts.

This history of health management education provides insight for students, researchers, educators and administrators. It underscores comparative advantage of different academic settings.

This paper serves to fill a gap in the management literature. It provides history and perspective about academic settings not readily available.

There is increasing recognition amongst healthcare providers on the necessity to improve fire safety management in healthcare facilities. This is possibly not yet satisfactory because of recent fire incidents in Asia. This paper set out to analyse the literature because of the paucity of systematic reviews on fire safety management of public healthcare facilities and proffer preventive measures.

Thirty related studies were identified with the support of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses via Scopus and Web of Science databases.

Influencing factors, hindrances to fire safety management and preventive measures for fire-related occurrence in Asian hospital buildings were the three themes that emerged from the reviewed. The factors that influence fire in Asian hospital buildings were categorised into technical, management and legislation factors.

The recommendations of this paper were based on literature that was systematically reviewed but does not compromise the robustness concerning fire safety management in hospital buildings across Asian countries. Much is needed to be known regarding fire safety in healthcare buildings across Asian countries. This paper recommended exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach as part of the implications for further studies. This will allow in-depth face-to-face interviews and increase the generalisability of future findings concerning fire safety management in hospital buildings across Asian countries to a larger population.

As part of the practical implications, this paper recommends fire safety management plan as one of the practical possible measures for addressing technical, management and legislation factors. Also recommended is training and fire safety education of healthcare staff in collaboration with safety firefighters to address major issues that may arise from management factors. The government should upgrade the safety technology equipment in healthcare facilities as part of measures to mitigate issues concerning technical and legislation factors. Also, the identified factors are part of the theoretical contributions to the advancement of knowledge and this brings to the front burners new opening.

This is probably the first systematic review paper on fire safety hospital buildings in Asia.

The article seeks to explain whether and how value-based healthcare principles lead to hybridization. The public management literature has been increasingly interested in hybrid forms of governance and hybrid performance management, but empirical studies are still rare. Further, the article studies the design of performance management and accounting systems as healthcare organizations reorganize their care processes applying value-based healthcare principles.

This article first connects the theoretical discussions on value-based healthcare and performance management for hybrids. The conceptual understanding of performance management in hybrid healthcare uses a case study of a Finnish healthcare organization with documentary data and transcribed interviews with healthcare professionals from both the strategic and operative levels of healthcare.

The article illustrates and analyses how new policy-level objectives and principles of value-based healthcare led to hybridity in healthcare, manifest in mixed ownership of a particular care path and new forms of social and financial control. Further, the article provides empirical evidence of how increased hybridity necessitated new organizational modes and roles, new managerial tools for performance management and created a need to develop the capability to account and measure entire integrated care processes. Important enabling factors for the integration of care and hybrid performance management were commitment created in dialogue, voluntary-based trust and technology to generate factual shared information.

The study is informative for stakeholders, funders and managers of healthcare organizations, namely new knowledge for the discussion of hybrid governance in healthcare, including a critical account of the applicability and impact of a hybrid service model in healthcare management. Moreover, the article illustrates what needs to be reconsidered in performance management and accounting practices when reorganizing care processes according to the principles of value-based healthcare.

The article extends the analysis of performance management in hybrids and sheds new light on hybridization in healthcare. It also provides much-needed empirical evidence on the processes and practices of accounting and performance management after implementing a value-based healthcare strategy.

This paper provides an overview of the range and development of health informatics, with examples from the literature world wide covering the types of information involved, the areas of application, the impact of evidence based medicine and other professional issues, integrated information systems, and the needs of the public, patients and their carers. While medical informatics certainly comprises a major part of health informatics it is not the main focus of this paper. Medical informatics is the older term and involves the use of information technology and computing specifically for medical science research, and the diagnosis and treatment of disease involving, for example, X‐rays, imaging, resonance, and magnetic scanning techniques. Rather, the scope of this review is the literature relating to the wider concept of the management of information through the interdisciplinary application of information science and technology for the benefit of patients, scientists, managers, staff, and carers involved in the whole range of healthcare activity.

The paper aims to examine the healthcare waste management practices of selected hospitals in Ghana.

The study adopted a multiple case approach, using two public and two private hospitals.

Findings indicate that both public hospitals and one private hospital have a waste management policy. Public and private hospitals have waste management plans and waste management teams. Public hospitals were found to generate more waste than the private hospitals. One private hospital and the public hospitals segregate their waste into different categories. This is done by first identifying the waste type and then separating non-infectious or general waste from infectious waste. Both public and private hospitals have internal storage facilities for temporarily storing the waste before they are finally disposed off-site. On-site transportation in the public hospitals is done by using wheelbarrows, while covered bins with wheels are used to transport waste on-site in the private hospitals. In public and private hospitals, off-site transportation of the hospital waste is undertaken by Municipal Assemblies with the use of trucks. Both public and private hospitals employ standard methods for disposing of healthcare waste.

The article provides insights into healthcare waste management from a Ghanaian perspective.

Healthcare management efficiency has become a golden goal in the operations of modern healthcare organisations across zones and cultures. This study aims to investigate five dimensions of Ouchi’s theory Z approach, mutual organisational trust, long-term employment/job security, employee participatory decision-making, employee well-being and generalised career path, concerning healthcare efficiency in government tertiary hospitals during COVID-19 period.

The probability sampling strategy was adopted among 300 participants of the hospitals in the healthcare workforce of the study population. The study adopted multiple scales on the identified variables of theory Z and employed principal component analysis to evaluate the components of Ouchi’s Theory Z in relation to healthcare efficiency among the workforce of tertiary hospitals in Lagos State, Nigeria.

The outcome of this study shows that all the dimensions were significantly related to healthcare efficiency in the study hospitals. It depicts that mutual trust among employees has a positive influence on the efficiency of healthcare management in government tertiary hospitals, and long-term employment opportunity has a significant impact on the efficiency of healthcare management in government tertiary hospitals. Employee participatory decision-making is essential to the efficiency of healthcare management in government tertiary hospitals. Employee well-being is fundamental to the efficiency of healthcare management in government tertiary hospitals. Generalised career path of healthcare personnel has a tremendous impact on the efficiency of healthcare management in government tertiary hospitals.

This study is limited to healthcare employees in Lagos State, Nigeria. The implication is that as old as Ouchi’s theory, its relevance remains green in the heart of contemporary organisations today even in healthcare facilities in Nigeria which aids the management of the global pandemic, COVID-19 outbreak.

The study shows that Ouchi’s theory Z approach that combines the Japanese and American patterns of organisational management is highly relevant in the operations and management of government hospitals in Nigeria to date even in the era of COVID-19, the global pandemic season.