Significance of scientific evidence in organizing care processes
Journal of Health Organization and Management
ISSN: 1477-7266
Article publication date: 20 June 2016
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Originality/value
The study illustrates several difficulties that might occur when managers and staff try to consider scientific evidence when making complicated decisions about care practices.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all the interview respondents. The Vårdal Institute financed this implementation study and the development and evaluation of the intervention “Continuum of care for frail elderly persons, from the emergency ward to living at home intervention.” In addition, the project received funding from the Vinnvård research program. The first author also received a postdoctoral funding from ERA-AGE2, Future Leaders of Ageing Research in Europe (FLARE)/Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research.
Citation
Hasson, H., Blomberg, S., Dunér, A. and Sarvimäki, A. (2016), "Significance of scientific evidence in organizing care processes", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 597-612. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-12-2013-0271
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited