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The purpose of this study is to explore how demolition contractors coordinate project activities for buildings at their end-of-life. The organizations are thereby conceptualized as information processing systems facing uncertainty.

A multiple-case study methodology was selected to gain in-depth insights from three projects with different end-of-life strategies: a faculty building (material recycling), a nursing home (component reuse) and a psychiatric hospital (element reuse). Using a theory elaboration approach, the authors sought to explain how and why demolition contractors process information for end-of-life coordination.

End-of-life strategies differ in the degree of building, workflow and environmental uncertainty posed to the demolition contractor. Whether or not a strategy is effective depends on the (mis)match between the specific levels of uncertainty and the adopted coordination mechanisms.

The explanatory account on end-of-life coordination refines information processing theory for the context of (selective) demolition projects.

The detailed case descriptions and information processing perspective enable practitioners to select, implement and reflect on coordination mechanisms for demolition/deconstruction projects at hand.

Reflecting its dual conceptual-empirical and inductive-deductive focus, this study contributes with new opportunities to explain building end-of-life coordination with a refined theory.

In this editorial introduction Allen Lee's definition of the information systems (IS) field is taken as the starting point: “Research in the information systems field examines more than just the technological system, or just the social system, or even the two systems side by side; in addition, it investigates the phenomena that emerge when the two interact” (Lee, A. “Editorial”, MISQ, Vol. 25, No. 1, 2001, p. iii). By emphasizing the last part of this, it is argued that actor‐network theory (ANT) can provide IS research with unique and very powerful tools to help us overcome the current poor understanding of the information technology (IT) artifact (Orlikowski, W. and Iacono, S., “Research commentary: desperately seeking the ‘IT’ in IT research – a call for theorizing the IT artifact”, Information Systems Research, Vol. 10 No. 2, 2001, pp. 121‐34). These tools include a broad range of concepts describing the interwoven relationships between the social.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the state of clinical governance practices globally as well as a more detailed examination of the clinical governance landscape in Canada. The paper explores the concept that established clinical governance practices are more important than ever as healthcare systems are increasingly under pressure to reduce costs while dealing with the challenges of ageing populations. Additionally, it suggests that healthcare could benefit by studying and adopting some of the successful governance policies that exist in other jurisdictions or sectors where quality and safety are an integral part of their governance mandate, such as the airline or nuclear energy sectors.

This paper explores the status of clinical governance practices in Canada. This is achieved through a combination of author experience in addition to the review of existing literature and assessments on clinical governance practices and patient safety.

While individual success stories can be found, standardized clinical governance practices across the range of healthcare providers remain largely absent. By focussing on standardized processes, and by placing an emphasis on improved clinical governance, healthcare providers can control and in some cases lower costs while improving efficiency and increasing patient safety. While progress has been slow for many years, the authors speculate that healthcare has reached a tipping point. As information systems develop and become more reliable and robust, and systems move to a patient-centric collaborative approach to care, there is a tremendous opportunity for healthcare and life sciences organizations to exploit and capitalize on both their growing information repositories, and the big data trends that have been embraced and leveraged by other sectors in recent years.

Managing costs and delivering safe, efficient care to patients remain top considerations for healthcare boards and healthcare systems alike. As healthcare systems grapple with the increasing costs and risk associated with ageing populations and a more complex healthcare delivery model, effective clinical governance policies focussed on quality outcomes are essential.

This paper highlights the responsibility of healthcare boards to learn lessons from other safety-critical industries and develop their own capacity to evaluate progress toward the goals identified above. It also provides insight into the role that leaders on both the corporate and clinical sides of the industry have to play, and the need for meaningful measures that will drive a quality agenda. The paper also emphases the link between established clinical governance practices and greater efficiency, reduced costs and improved patient safety.

To describe how The Red Cross Hospital in Beverwijk, The Netherlands implemented an ISO 9000 quality management system throughout the entire organisation, obtained an ISO 9002:1994 and subsequently an ISO 9001:2000 certificate.

First, a global implementation plan was written concerning the process obtaining in each department. Once improved, each process was subjected to a procedure, and specific protocols effected. On completion the Quality Manual was put together. Quality management was completed by implementing an internal audit system involving 50 co‐workers.

A number of advantages are found from using ISO. The focus on patients has been re‐established. All processes are identified and subject to continuous improvement. Performance measurements were introduced and give an integrated picture of results. Measurements subsequently lead to improvement of quality of care and to quality system improvements. The documentation system serves the organization's needs without leading to bureaucracy. Positive effects on patient safety could be demonstrated compared with ten other hospitals.

Given the need for adequate quality management tools in health care and the need for demonstrating quality, the positive effects reported in this article show how ISO is expected to become more prevalent in health‐care organisations.

This article juxtaposes the history of the book to the current discussions about lay health information on the Internet in order to thoroughly open up the notion of “reliability” that underlies these discussions. It uses the parallels between the two media to improve understanding of what actors are involved and what issues are at stake, as well as how this is consequential for the reliability that is constructed.

Debates why and how some practices become universal – taking as a case in point closed‐chest massage (CCCM). Points out that CCCM was recognized in 1960 and its use generated heated debates, which altered the technique and reshuffled existing infrastructures. Claims that debates act as a catalyst for university. Investigates the emergence of CCCM, the debate on the merits (or otherwise) of closed versus open‐chested cardiac massage, and who could use the method of CCCM. Indicates that CCCM only became universally practised when it was incorporated into the infrastructure for dealing with emergency cases, and thus became taken for granted.