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The purpose of the paper is to investigate ambiguous language use in health-care project plans in a manner that accounts for the wider, institutional, public health-care context.

The article deployed a case study approach and drew from Fairclough's critical discourse analysis (CDA) as well as a keyword analysis to investigate two time-sequenced versions of the same project planning document for a health-care project in Finland.

In the project plans investigated, the study identified patient as a keyword possessing various meanings within the public health-care context. By examining the discursive practices around the keyword patient, the study demonstrated their role in constituting the institutional context as well as the function of this context in constraining these practices.

By looking at the potential of the CDA to investigate discursive practices of the keyword in two sequential versions of a project plan within the broader context of public health care, the study adds to the scant existing literature on critically oriented health-care project communication studies.

The purpose of this paper is to describe persuasive speech and discourses in multi-professional organizational change facilitation meetings at a hospital through rhetorical discourse analysis. Previous research has often considered organizational change to be a managerial issue, with other employees given the rather passive role of implementators. This study takes an alternative approach in assuming that organizational change could benefit by involving those who are most familiar with the tasks to be changed.

The study employed a qualitative, case study approach and focused on the construction of a hospitalist model within multi-professional change facilitation meetings. Eight videos of these multi-professional change facilitation meetings – which occurred between January and September 2017 – were observed and the material was analyzed by rhetorical discourse analysis. An average of 10–20 actors from different professional groups participated in the meetings. The change actors comprised physicians, nursing staff and nursing managers, along with a secretary and hospitalist. The meetings were conducted by a change facilitator.

The persuasive speech in the analyzed organizational change meetings occurred within five distinct discourses: constructing the change together, positive feedback, strategic change in speech, patient perspective and driving change. The content of these discourses revealed topics that are relevant to persuading members of healthcare organizations to adopt a planned change.

The presented research provides new knowledge about how persuasive speech is used in organizational change and describes the discourses in which persuasive speech is used in a healthcare context.

The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of how sensemaking occurs as a holistic, processual phenomenon during an organisational change.

A longitudinal, qualitative case study was conducted by analysing video-recorded meetings among the staff of two recently merged surgical departments in a university hospital. Sensemaking was approached through the lens of socio-material practices.

The analysis revealed that material-discursive practices produce sensemaking in various ways, creating a holistic process and a dynamic agency. Four sensemaking practices were identified through which personnel made sense of the development of ward inpatient rounding: facilitated meetings, a status board, video analysis and humour.

This paper identifies diverse sensemaking practices, each of which increases understanding of sensemaking as a holistic, processual phenomenon that emerges through socio-material practices. The paper also enhances practical understanding of how sense is made of a working practice, as well as how a working practice is developed and improved during an organisational change.

The purpose of this paper is to review peer-reviewed original research articles on authentic leadership (AL) in health care to identify potential research gaps and present recommendations for future research. The objectives are to examine and map evidence of the main characteristics, research themes and methodologies in the studies. AL is a leader’s non-authoritarian, ethical and transparent behaviour pattern.

A scoping review with thematic analysis was conducted. A three-step search strategy was used with database and manual searches. The included studies were composed of English language peer-reviewed original research articles referring to both AL and health care.

In total, 29 studies were included. The studies favoured Canadian nurses in acute care hospitals. AL was understood as its original definition. The review identified four research themes: well-being at work, patient care quality, work environment and AL promotion. Quantitative research methodology with the authentic leadership questionnaire and cross-sectional design were prevalent.

Future research needs more variation in research themes, study populations, settings, organisations, work sectors, geographical origins and theory perspectives. Different research methodologies, such as qualitative and mixed methods research and longitudinal designs, should be used more.

This is presumably the first literature review to map the research on AL in health care.