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The purpose of this paper is to analyze how staff and managers in health and social care organizations use scientific evidence when making decisions about the organization of care practices.

Document analysis and repeated interviews (2008-2010) with staff (n=39) and managers (n=26) in health and social care organizations. The respondents were involved in a randomized controlled study about testing a continuum of care model for older people.

Scientific evidence had no practical function in the social care organization, while it was a prioritized source of information in the health care organization. This meant that the decision making regarding care practices was different in these organizations. Social care tended to rely on ad hoc practice-based information and political decisions when organizing care, while health care to some extent also relied in an unreflected manner on the scientific knowledge.

The study illustrates several difficulties that might occur when managers and staff try to consider scientific evidence when making complicated decisions about care practices.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse ways of organizing integrated care for older persons in Sweden during the past decade.

The data consist of 62 cases of development work, described in official reports. A meta-analysis of cases was performed, including content analysis of each case. A theoretical framework comprising different forms of integration (co-ordination, contracting, co-operation and collaboration) was applied.

Co-operation was common and collaboration, including multiprofessional teamwork, was rare in the cases. Contracting can be questioned as being a form of integration, and the introduction of consumer choice models appeared problematic in inter-organization integration. Goals stated in the cases concerned steering and designing care, rather than outcome specifications for older persons. Explicit goals to improve integration in itself could imply that the organizations adapt to strong normative expectations in society. Trends over the decade comprised development of local health care systems, introduction of consumer choice models and contracting out.

Most cases were projects, but others comprised evaluations of regular organization of integrated care. These evaluations were often written normatively, but constituted the conditions for practice and were important study contributions.

Guiding clinical practice to be aware of importance of setting follow-up goals.

Awareness of the risk that special funds may impede sustainable strategies development.

A theoretical framework of forms of integration was applied to several different strategies, which had been carried out mostly in practice. The study contributes to understanding of how different strategies have been developed and applied to organize integrated care, and highlights some relationships between integration theory and practice.