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- Anderson, Janet E., et al.
(author)
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Translating research on quality improvement in five European countries into a reflective guide for hospital leaders : the ‘QUASER Hospital Guide’
- 2019
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In: International Journal for Quality in Health Care. - : Oxford University Press. - 1353-4505 .- 1464-3677. ; 31:8, s. G87-G96
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: The aim was to translate the findings of the QUASER study into a reflective, dialogic guide to help senior hospital leaders develop an organization wide QI strategy.Design: The QUASER study involved in depth ethnographic research into QI work and practices in two hospitals in each of five European countries. Three translational stakeholder workshops were held to review research findings and advise on the design of the Guide. An extended iterative process involving researchers from each participant country was then used to populate the Guide.Setting: The research was carried out in two hospitals in each of five European countries.Participants: In total, 389 interviews with healthcare practitioners and 803 hours of observations.Intervention: None.Main outcome measure: None.Results: The QUASER Hospital Guide was designed for leadership teams to diagnose their organization’s strengths and weaknesses in the eight QI challenges. The Guide supports organizational dialogue about QI challenges, enables leaders to share perspectives, and helps teams to develop solutions to their situated problems. The Guide includes extensive examples of QI strategies drawn from the data and is published online and on paper.Conclusion: The QUASER Hospital Guide is empirically based, draws on a dialogical approach to Organizational Development and complexity science and can facilitate hospital leadership teams to identify the best solutions for their organization.
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2. |
- Burnett, Susan, et al.
(author)
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Using institutional theory to analyse hospital responses to external demands for finance and quality in five European countries
- 2016
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In: Journal of Health Services Research and Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 1355-8196 .- 1758-1060. ; 21:2, s. 109-117
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objectives: Given the impact of the global economic crisis, delivering better health care with limited finance grows more challenging. Through the lens of institutional theory, this paper explores pressures experienced by hospital leaders to improve quality and constrain spending, focusing on how they respond to these often competing demands.Methods: An in-depth, multilevel analysis of health care quality policies and practices in five European countries including longitudinal case studies in a purposive sample of ten hospitals.Results: How hospitals responded to the financial and quality challenges was dependent upon three factors: the coherence of demands from external institutions; managerial competence to align external demands with an overall quality improvement strategy, and managerial stability. Hospital leaders used diverse strategies and practices to manage conflicting external pressures.Conclusions: The development of hospital leaders’ skills in translating external requirements into implementation plans with internal support is a complex, but crucial, task, if quality is to remain a priority during times of austerity. Increasing quality improvement skills within a hospital, developing a culture where quality improvement becomes embedded and linking cost reduction measures to improving care are all required.
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3. |
- Nunes, Francisco G., et al.
(author)
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Enacting quality improvement in ten European hospitals : a dualities approach
- 2020
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In: BMC Health Services Research. - : BioMed Central. - 1472-6963. ; 20:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Hospitals undertake numerous initiatives searching to improve the quality of care they provide, but these efforts are often disappointing. Current models guiding improvement tend to undervalue the tensional nature of hospitals. Applying a dualities approach that is sensitive to tensions inherent to hospitals' quest for improved quality, this article aims to identify which organizational dualities managers should particularly pay attention to.METHODS: A set of cross-national, multi-level case studies was conducted involving 383 semi-structured interviews and 803 h of non-participant observation of key meetings and shadowing of staff in ten purposively sampled hospitals in five European countries (England, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Norway).RESULTS: Six dualities that describe the quest for improved quality, each embracing a seemingly contradictory feature were identified: plural consensus, distributed connectedness, orchestrated emergence, formalized fluidity, patient coreness, and cautious generativeness.CONCLUSIONS: We advocate for a move from the usual sequential and project-based and systemic thinking about quality improvement to the development of meta-capabilities to balance the simultaneous operation of opposing ideas or concepts. Doing so will help hospital managers to deal with major challenges of change inherent to quality improvement initiatives.
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4. |
- Wiig, Siri, et al.
(author)
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Talking about quality: exploring how ‘quality’ is conceptualized in European hospitals and healthcare systems
- 2014
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In: BMC Health Services Research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1472-6963. ; 14:478, s. 1-12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND:Conceptualization of quality of care - in terms of what individuals, groups and organizations include in their meaning of quality, is an unexplored research area. It is important to understand how quality is conceptualised as a means to successfully implement improvement efforts and bridge potential disconnect in language about quality between system levels, professions, and clinical services. The aim is therefore to explore and compare conceptualization of quality among national bodies (macro level), senior hospital managers (meso level), and professional groups within clinical micro systems (micro level) in a cross-national study.METHODS:This cross-national multi-level case study combines analysis of national policy documents and regulations at the macro level with semi-structured interviews (383) and non-participant observation (803 hours) of key meetings and shadowing of staff at the meso and micro levels in ten purposively sampled European hospitals (England, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Norway). Fieldwork at the meso and micro levels was undertaken over a 12-month period (2011-2012) and different types of micro systems were included (maternity, oncology, orthopaedics, elderly care, intensive care, and geriatrics).RESULTS:The three quality dimensions clinical effectiveness, patient safety, and patient experience were incorporated in macro level policies in all countries. Senior hospital managers adopted a similar conceptualization, but also included efficiency and costs in their conceptualization of quality. 'Quality' in the forms of measuring indicators and performance management were dominant among senior hospital managers (with clinical and non-clinical background). The differential emphasis on the three quality dimensions was strongly linked to professional roles, personal ideas, and beliefs at the micro level. Clinical effectiveness was dominant among physicians (evidence-based approach), while patient experience was dominant among nurses (patient-centered care, enough time to talk with patients). Conceptualization varied between micro systems depending on the type of services provided.CONCLUSION:The quality conceptualization differed across system levels (macro-meso-micro), among professional groups (nurses, doctors, managers), and between the studied micro systems in our ten sampled European hospitals. This entails a managerial alignment challenge translating macro level quality definitions into different local contexts.
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