Search results

In the USA, there has recently been an unprecedented convergence of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) with mainstream biomedical care. This confluence may lead to a deeply rooted philosophical conflict. This qualitative study works to identify factors that health-care leaders can use, which will build a pathway to greater integrative practice between medical doctors and CAM practitioners – from parallel existence to partnership – by examining the tensions between biomedical medicine and naturopathic medicine. The purpose of this study is to offer short-term suggestions for partnership and long-term recommendations for better understanding.

An original qualitative study using semi-structured with CAM practitioners and biomedical practitioners.

Areas of conflict that are preventing synergy are identified and a pathway for health-care leaders to follow to create greater integration and partnerships is suggested.

This is a qualitative and exploratory study that has significant limitations on generalizability.

This study suggest steps that both types of health-care practitioners can take to increase their success at working together on an individual level, a group level, an organizational level and on an industry-wide basis, as well as provide a specific pathway to create greater integrative practice for health-care leaders.

The results indicate that stronger partnerships between different types of medical practitioners increase patient choice, patient satisfaction and outcomes.

Increasing interested in CAM modalities is driving more contact between CAM practitioners and biomedical practitioners. This contact is best established in partnership between practitioners rather than in parallel. This original research outlines the sources of conflict and provides recommendations for encouraging greater synergy.

The purpose of this study is to empirically test a hierarchical model of the antecedents of nurse job satisfaction and loyalty based on the internal marketing literature. Specifically, the study aims to investigate the degree to which structural, social, and financial bonding activities influence nurses' job satisfaction and retention.

Following a review of the literature, the model was tested via a survey of 200 nurses from three US health care institutions.

The study resulted in key findings pertaining to the hierarchical nature of structural, social, and financial bonding activities and their impact on job satisfaction and loyalty.

Service industries that depend on front‐line employees to deliver high quality services are provided with innovative suggestions to improve job satisfaction and loyalty of their employees by employing an internal marketing approach. The study provides organizations with empirical evidence regarding the synergistic effects of bonding activities.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first time a hierarchical/sequential model of the impact that relationship bonds have on satisfaction and retention of health care staff has been empirically tested. The findings that structural bonds have both a direct and indirect impact on job satisfaction and loyalty are of value for interested academics working in this area and are relevant for companies trying to improve job satisfaction and loyalty of their employees.

The simulation of fracture processes for discrete crack propagation is well established for linear‐elastic cracking problems. Applying finite element techniques for the numerical formulation, at every incremental macro‐crack step the element mesh has to be adapted such that the crack path remains independent of the initial mesh. The accuracy of the obtained results has to be controlled by suitable error estimators and error indicators. Considering the dependence of the predicted crack path on the precision of the displacement and stress computation, quality measures for the computed results are recommended. In this research the use of the Babuska/Rheinboldt error indicator in combination with linear‐elastic crack propagation problems is demonstrated. Based on this error measure an adaptive mesh refinement technique is developed. In comparison with classical discrete crack propagation simulations the advantages of the new concept can be clearly observed.

This study aims to reconcile some of the conflicting results in prior studies of the board structure–firm performance relationship and to evaluate the effectiveness and applicability of agency theory in the specific context of Italian corporate governance practice.

This research applies a dynamic generalised method of moments on a sample of Italian listed companies over the period 2003-2015. Proxies for corporate governance mechanisms are the board size, the level of board independence, ownership structure, shareholder agreements and CEO–chairman leadership.

While directors elected by minority shareholders are not able to impact performance, independent directors do have a non-linear effect on performance. Board size has a positive effect on firm performance for lower levels of board size. Ownership structure per se and shareholder agreements do not affect firm performance.

This paper contributes to the literature on agency theory by reconciling some of the conflicting results inherent in the board structure–performance relationship. Firm performance is not necessarily improved by having a high number of independent directors on the board. Ownership structure and composition do not affect firm performance; therefore, greater monitoring provided by concentrated ownership does not necessarily lead to stronger firm performance.

This paper suggests that Italian corporate governance law should improve the rules and effectiveness of minority directors by analysing whether they are able to impede the main shareholders to expropriate private benefits on the expenses of the minority. The legislator should not impose any restrictive regulations with regard to CEO duality, as the influence of CEO duality on performance may vary with respect to the unique characteristics of each company.

The results enrich the understanding of the applicability of agency theory in listed companies, especially in Italy. Additionally, this paper provides a comprehensive synthesis of research evidence of agency theory studies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship of horizontal violence, organizational cynicism and turnover intention in the nursing profession.

A quantitative approach was utilized and 870 questionnaires were distributed to collect data from nursing staff working in Punjab region of Pakistan by using non-probability multistage sampling technique. A total of 711 questionnaires were returned, out of which, 668 questionnaires were scrutinized. Additionally, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were applied to analyze the data.

The results revealed an insignificant mediating effect of organizational cynicism between the relationship of horizontal violence and turnover intention.

The current study has adopted a multistage non-probability sampling technique to collect data because the management of hospitals restricted researcher access to personal information about the nurses. Therefore, at the first stage, the researcher used convenience sampling and at the second stage, the researcher utilized quota sampling to collect the data. Moreover, the findings of the current study are based on cross-sectional data because of the limited time and resources.

The current study fosters the ongoing debate in organizational studies related to cynicism, and it is noteworthy for the nursing managers to understand the significant factors which directly or indirectly affect the nursing attitude.

The current study explored the mediating role of organizational cynicism between horizontal violence and turnover intention to fill the research gap.

Hospitals must systematically support employees in innovative ways to uphold a culture of care that strengthens the system. At a leading Canadian academic pediatric rehabilitation hospital, over 90 percent of clinicians viewed Schwartz Rounds™ (SR) as a hospital priority, resulting in its formal implementation as a quality improvement initiative. The purpose of this paper is to describe how the hospital implemented SR to support the socio-emotional impact of providing care.

This quantitative descriptive study provides a snapshot of the impact of each SR through online surveys at four assessment points (SR1-SR4). A total of 571 responses were collected.

All four SR addressed needs of staff as 92.9-97.6 percent of attendees reported it had a positive impact, and 96.4-100 percent of attendees reported each SR was relevant. Attendees reported significantly greater communication with co-workers after each SR (p<0.001) and more personal conversations with supervisors after SR2 and SR4 (p<0.05) compared to non-attendees. Attending SR also increased their perspective-taking capacity across the four SR.

As evidenced in this quality improvement initiative, SR addresses staff’s need for time to process the socio-emotional impacts of care and to help reduce those at risk for compassion fatigue. SR supports and manages the emotional healthcare culture, which has important implications for quality patient care.

This research details an organization’s process to implement SR and highlights the importance of taking care of the care provider.

Incivility is pervasive in organisational settings, particularly in healthcare, and is associated with negative employee outcomes. The aim of this study was to analyse the relationships between experienced incivility, sleep quality and emotional outcomes, positioning sleep quality as a mediator. Additionally, the protective role of tenure and the unique effects of incivility from different sources were examined.

This study used a daily diary longitudinal design using self-report questionnaires with 92 nurses of varying tenure.

This research demonstrates that experiencing incivility negatively impacts sleep quality, which, in turn, increases surface acting and emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, the negative relationship between incivility and sleep quality is attenuated among nurses who have longer tenure.

These findings are helpful in developing targeted practical practices, such as incivility interventions and mentorship programs to reduce the incidence and impact of incivility.

This study draws upon theories of self-regulation and emotion regulation to examine how incivility diminishes self-control resources, leading to negative outcomes. This study also positions job tenure as a buffer against incivility and examines the differential impact of different sources of incivility.

The risk of adverse events in a hospital evaluation is an important process in healthcare management. It involves several technical, social, and economical aspects. The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated approach to evaluate the risk of adverse events in the hospital sector.

This paper aims to provide a decision-making framework to evaluate hospital service. Three well-known methods are applied. More specifically are proposed the following methods: analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions, based on mathematics and psychology developed by Thomas L. Saaty in the 1970s; decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) to construct interrelations between criteria/factors and VIKOR method, a commonly used multiple-criteria decision analysis technique for determining a compromise solution and improving the quality of decision making.

The example provided has demonstrated that the proposed approach is an effective and useful tool to assess the risk of adverse events in the hospital sector. The results could help the hospital identify its high performance level and take appropriate measures in advance to prevent adverse events. The authors can conclude that the promising results obtained in applying the AHP–DEMATEL–VIKOR method suggest that the hybrid method can be used to create decision aids that it simplifies the shared decision-making process.

This paper presents a novel approach based on the integration of AHP, DEMATEL and VIKOR methods. The final aim is to propose a robust methodology to overcome disadvantages associated with each method.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the clinical communication using Tamale Teaching Hospital as a case.

The paper is based on the Reassure, Explain, Listen, Answer, Take Action and Express Appreciation (RELATE) model and the Four Habits models of Clinical Communication.

The results of the study indicate that leadership conducted staff meetings with some of the components of the RELATE model. These include staff meetings, employee rounding and communication/notice boards. The results of the study also suggest that much as some parts of the Four Habits model was used in provider–patient communication, certain aspects of the model were absent. The study identified some communication challenges including poor dissemination, lack of unity among some health workers, poor attendance in meetings and, with respect to patients, language barrier, patients’ reluctance to disclose their actual health problems to health providers, lack of privacy and lack of a friendly environment.

Providers, especially physicians, should be given training on the local languages in areas where they perform their services. Health service providers should receive as part of their learning in-depth training on the Four Habits model of Clinical Communication, especially the Medical Officers.

It is imperative to embrace evidence-based practices/models aimed at securing proper communication in all hospitals but most especially teaching hospitals.

The inherent characteristics of professional services (i.e. high in credence properties, customized and featuring information asymmetry) often cause difficulties for clients to confidently evaluate technical outcomes before, during or even after service delivery. This results in considerable client psychological discomfort. This study aims to blend a revised social interaction model and uncertainty reduction theory to investigate the role that service provider’s interpersonal communication style plays in establishing client psychological comfort and satisfaction in a health-care context.

The study draws on cross-sectional data collected from 355 hospital patients following visiting a physician plus an experimental design in an Eastern culture (Thailand).

The study reveals three key findings. First, an affiliative communication style is positively associated with psychological comfort, but not so a dominant communications style. When both styles are presented, the high-affiliative style overshadows the low-dominant style and creates the highest psychological comfort. Second, clients’ perceptions of professional’s affiliative and dominant styles influence psychological comfort differentially under varying conditions of clients’ cognitive social capital, collectivist value-orientation but not service criticality. Third, a competing model suggests psychological comfort acts as a partial mediator between affiliative communication style and satisfaction.

To generalize the findings, further studies might be conducted in other professional services and in individualist Western cultures.

The findings have important managerial implications for the appropriate use of communication style to build psychological comfort and engage clients of professional services firms.

The findings shed light on the important role of an everyday social function – interpersonal communications and how this impacts client psychological comfort and satisfaction.

This is one of the few studies in a services context that examines the impact of professionals’ communications style. Moreover, it examines the impact of cultural value-orientation, cognitive social capital, service criticality in moderating the communications style – client psychological comfort relationship.