Search results

1 – 10 of 463
Article
Publication date: 12 October 2015

Paul Goldsmith, Jackie Moon, Paul Anderson, Steve Kirkup, Susan Williams and Margaret Gray

Error reporting by healthcare staff, patient-derived complaints and patient-derived medico-legal claims are three separate processes present in most healthcare systems. It is…

402

Abstract

Purpose

Error reporting by healthcare staff, patient-derived complaints and patient-derived medico-legal claims are three separate processes present in most healthcare systems. It is generally assumed that all relate to the same cases. Given the high costs associated with these processes and strong desire to maximise quality and standards, the purpose of this paper is to see whether it was indeed the case that most complaints and claims related to medical errors and the relative resource allocation to each group.

Design/methodology/approach

Electronic databases for clinical error recording, patient complaints and medico-legal claims in a large NHS healthcare provider organisation were reviewed and case overlap analysed.

Findings

Most complaints and medico-legal claims do not associate with a prior clinical error. Disproportionate resource is required for a small number of complaints and the medico-legal claims process. Most complaints and claims are not upheld.

Research limitations/implications

The authors have only looked at data from one healthcare provider and for one period. It would be useful to analyse other healthcare organisations over a longer time period. The authors were unable to access data on secondary staffing costs, which would have been informative. As the medico-legal process can go on for many years, the authors do not know the ultimate outcomes for all cases. The authors also do not know how many medico-legal cases were settled out of court pragmatically to minimise costs.

Practical implications

Staff error reporting systems and patient advisory services seem to be efficient and working well. However, the broader complaints and claims process is costing considerable time and money, yet may not be useful in driving up standards. System changes to maximise helpful complaints and claims, from a quality and standards perspective, and minimise unhelpful ones are recommended.

Originality/value

This study provides important data on the lack of overlap between errors, complaints and claims cases.

Details

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol. 28 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0952-6862

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1965

R.G. ANDRY

Documentation in Criminology, as in other sciences, has developed steadily and is now expanding rapidly through such media as abstracts indexes, translation services, journals…

Abstract

Documentation in Criminology, as in other sciences, has developed steadily and is now expanding rapidly through such media as abstracts indexes, translation services, journals, etc.

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 November 2021

Lakshya Arora and Feroz Ikbal

Mumbai needs to be transformed into a world-class city as stated in the 2005–2025 development plan of Municipal Corporation. For this initiative, hospital management information…

4765

Abstract

Purpose

Mumbai needs to be transformed into a world-class city as stated in the 2005–2025 development plan of Municipal Corporation. For this initiative, hospital management information system (HMIS) has to be implemented across 400+ health facilities in the city.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study methodology was adopted to study HMIS implementation. Wave 1 of Phase 1 implementation of HMIS is carried out as a pilot project at Film City’s Hospital, Mumbai, which “go-live” on 21st June 2018. The work for hardware and software implementation was awarded to HardSystems and Solutions Limited and SoftSolutions India Private Limited, respectively, through e-tender.

Findings

Provision of inadequate quantity of hardware, slowness of network or system, non-satisfactory training after observation confirmation and sign-off process, lack of data entry operators, mismatch in numbering systems in blood bank and many other challenges concerned with the specific departments had become a major impediment in the efforts to maximize number of patients registered into HMIS.

Practical implications

Even after providing many clinical and managerial benefits, being the first cloud-based centrally located HMIS in any of the hospitals in the city, it imposes a major challenge for the management in terms of resistance of employees toward technology and need for the adoption of theoretical models for implementing change for the overall organizational development.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other teaching case study is conducted to study the HMIS implementation in large-scale public health-care services. This is a dummy case study for teaching exercises. The identity of the stakeholders, organizations and events has been masked to maintain confidentiality.

Details

Vilakshan - XIMB Journal of Management, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0973-1954

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 October 2018

Ashley Cartwright

Fraudulently claiming symptoms of mental disorder can be very lucrative for those in society who are willing to do so. One context that lends itself well to those willing to…

Abstract

Purpose

Fraudulently claiming symptoms of mental disorder can be very lucrative for those in society who are willing to do so. One context that lends itself well to those willing to fraudulently claim symptoms of mental disorder is the road traffic accident. Previous research has indicated that the assessment practices of those charged with investigating psychological damages in the UK are not suitable in terms of detecting malingering. The purpose of this paper is to provide a “practitioner ready review” that outlines the structured psychometric assessment tools that are recommended and validated by academic research for aiding with the detection of feigned mental disorder.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes a primarily conceptual approach utilising a narrative literature review which is aimed at the forensic practitioner who conducts assessments for psychological damages in contexts where malingering may be of concern.

Findings

The findings of the present paper will be of use not only to forensic practitioners, but also will be of interest to those who instruct assessments in similar contexts, those who conduct research within this area and those who interpret reports written by forensic practitioners such as the courts.

Originality/value

To the author’s knowledge the present paper is the first of its kind, which attempts to bridge the gap between academic literature and professional practice to assist forensic examiners incorporate suitable psychometric instruments within their practice. As a result, the paper makes a substantial contribution to the improvement of forensic reporting in the disciplines of psychology and psychiatry.

Details

Journal of Criminal Psychology, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2009-3829

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 July 2017

Jacob Ellis, Susannah Fairweather, Mark Scott and Laura Griffiths

In total, 90,000 of the 1.26 million people applying for asylum in the EU in 2015 were unaccompanied children. The Dublin III Regulations provided a unique legal situation where…

Abstract

Purpose

In total, 90,000 of the 1.26 million people applying for asylum in the EU in 2015 were unaccompanied children. The Dublin III Regulations provided a unique legal situation where unaccompanied young people in the Calais Jungle potentially had the right to be reunited with family in the UK. The purpose of this paper is to explore the substantial challenges presented by carrying out medico-legal assessment of this group in the Calais Jungle.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors consider the refugee crisis from a mental health and legal perspective. The authors provide two case examples to contextualise and describe the work. The authors draw from the observations and the literature to discuss the impact of living in the Calais Jungle on young people, the challenges the authors overcame to carry out the assessments and the needs of refugees following settling in the UK.

Findings

The authors conclude that the Calais Jungle was a toxic environment not suitable for young refugees’ continued emotional development or recovery from trauma. The current legal process to relocate a young person to the UK is time consuming and labour intensive. The authors note that these concerns are not unique to the Jungle, nor have they ended with its demolition. The difficulties young refugees face with mental illness continues following their arrival to the UK.

Originality/value

This was the first successful attempt since the Dublin III Regulations to seek a legal route to bring unaccompanied refugee minors from France to the UK. This paper was co-written by both the legal and mental health professionals involved in the cases providing a broad opinion across both disciplines.

Details

International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-4902

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2003

A.J. Corner

In the UK, obstetric surgery is commonly performed with the patient awake and her partner present. Patient expectations are high. Even under high quality regional anaesthesia…

445

Abstract

In the UK, obstetric surgery is commonly performed with the patient awake and her partner present. Patient expectations are high. Even under high quality regional anaesthesia, non‐painful sensation may occur. This and other contentious issues must be discussed before surgery. Legal proceedings against obstetric anaesthetists are rare, but may arise many months later. Accurate contemporaneous notes are essential. The quality of notekeeping was audited for 50 Caesarean sections. A redesigned anaesthetic chart with prompts for key information was introduced and the audit repeated. There were significant improvements in documenting the pre‐operative discussion of: intra‐operative sensation; conversion to general anaesthesia; post‐dural puncture headache; suppositories; neuraxial opiate‐induced itch. Records of pain free operations; the presence or absence of nerve root pain; and the timing of events leading to delivery were significantly increased. This audit suggests that an anaesthetic chart with specific prompts improves the documentation of medico‐legally relevant information.

Details

Clinical Governance: An International Journal, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7274

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2000

Deborah Plechner

The relationships between women, health, and medicine are complex and contradictory. During the second-wave of the women's movement, feminists struggled to bring women's health…

Abstract

The relationships between women, health, and medicine are complex and contradictory. During the second-wave of the women's movement, feminists struggled to bring women's health issues to the fore. Today, their success is documented by the growing numbers of women practicing medicine, and by the increasing attention and resources devoted to women's health issues. Yet feminists remain critical of the highly gendered nature of medicine and its contribution to social inequalities. Feminists working both from within and outside the growing subfield of medical sociology have used one of its key concepts — medicalization — to explicate the negative consequences of institutional medicine for women.The continuing medicalization of women's lives is related to key ideas about the body and important trends in the structure of medicine, particularly the growing importance and sophistication of technology. The argument is made that some instances of medicalization, including women's legal punishment for fetal abuse and coerced sterilization, herald a new medico-legal alliance that impacts the poorest of women most severely. Feminists relate the growth of the public health paradigm of medicine to the emergence of the medico-legal alliance in that both rely on the power of the state and represent the continuing medicalization of women's lives. Based on these insights, the need for a continuing critical and feminist sociological understanding of medicine is stressed and possible lines of inquiry are set forth.

Details

Health, Illness, and use of Care: The Impact of Social Factors
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-084-5

Article
Publication date: 10 January 2024

Abeer F. Alkhwaldi

Due to its ability to support well-informed decision-making, business intelligence (BI) has grown in popularity among executives across a range of industries. However, given the…

Abstract

Purpose

Due to its ability to support well-informed decision-making, business intelligence (BI) has grown in popularity among executives across a range of industries. However, given the volume of data collected in health-care organizations, there is a lack of exploration concerning its implementation. Consequently, this research paper aims to investigate the key factors affecting the acceptance and use of BI in healthcare organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

Leveraging the theoretical lens of the “unified theory of acceptance and use of technology” (UTAUT), a study framework was proposed and integrated with three context-related factors, including “rational decision-making culture” (RDC), “perceived threat to professional autonomy” (PTA) and “medical–legal risk” (MLR). The variables in the study framework were categorized as follows: information systems (IS) perspective; organizational perspective; and user perspective. In Jordan, 434 healthcare professionals participated in a cross-sectional online survey that was used to collect data.

Findings

The findings of the “structural equation modeling” revealed that professionals’ behavioral intentions toward using BI systems were significantly affected by performance expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, MLR, RDC and PTA. Also, an insignificant effect of PTA on PE was found based on the results of statistical analysis. These variables explained 68% of the variance (R2) in the individuals’ intentions to use BI-based health-care systems.

Practical implications

To promote the acceptance and use of BI technology in health-care settings, developers, designers, service providers and decision-makers will find this study to have a number of practical implications. Additionally, it will support the development of effective strategies and BI-based health-care systems based on these study results, attracting the interest of many users.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the first studies that integrates the UTAUT model with three contextual factors (RDC, PTA and MLR) in addition to examining the suggested framework in a developing nation (Jordan). This study is one of the few in which the users’ acceptance behavior of BI systems was investigated in a health-care setting. More specifically, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that reveals the critical antecedents of individuals’ intention to accept BI for health-care purposes in the Jordanian context.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 December 2022

Mohamed Amine Zaara, Mehdi Ben Khelil, Mohamed Bellali, Meriem Gharbaoui, Ikram Kort, Ahmed Banasr, Mongi Zhioua and Moncef Hamdoun

This study aims to analyze the pattern of deaths in detention in Northern Tunisia as well as the causes of death.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to analyze the pattern of deaths in detention in Northern Tunisia as well as the causes of death.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study including all the casualties of death in detention examined in the legal medicine Department in the main teaching hospital from 2005 to 2019. The department covers 10 out of the 11 governorates of Northern Tunisia and 13 prisons.

Findings

Of a total of 197 casualties, only 2 were females. The mean age was 45.39 ± 14.43 years. A known medical history was reported in 63.5%, mainly cardiovascular disease, mental health disorders and diabetes. Half of the deaths occurred at the hospital. A total of 53 victims spent less than one year in custody before their death. Most deaths occurred due to disease-related causes (78.7%; n = 155); among these, 69 victims died from cardiovascular disease. Suicide accounted for 3.6% of the casualties and homicides for four cases.

Research limitations/implications

Several missing data regarding the details of the detention circumstances as well as the absence in some cases of the toxicological and histopathology analysis results, which could bias the study findings.

Practical implications

Death in detention in Northern Tunisia involved mainly males between their 30s and their 50s who died mainly from cardiovascular or pulmonary disease. These results underscore the importance of empowering the penitentiary health system.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of largest studies with regard to the number of decedents and the number of prisons from the Arab countries allowing to draw a pattern of casualties of death in prison.

Details

International Journal of Prisoner Health, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-9200

Keywords

1 – 10 of 463