Vincent Peters, Mervi Vähätalo, Bert Meijboom, Alice Barendregt, Levinus Bok and Esther de Vries
This study examines how modular interfaces manifest in multi-provider contexts and how they can improve coordination and customization of services. The aim of the study is to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines how modular interfaces manifest in multi-provider contexts and how they can improve coordination and customization of services. The aim of the study is to describe interfaces in multi-provider contexts and elaborate on how they support the delivery of integrated patient care.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative, multiple case study was conducted in two multi-provider contexts in healthcare services: one representing paediatric Down syndrome care in the Netherlands and one representing home care for the elderly in Finland. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews in both contexts.
Findings
This study provides insight into several types of interfaces and their role in multi-provider contexts. Several inter- and intra-organizational situations were identified in which the delivery of integrated patient care was jeopardized. This study describes how interfaces can help to alleviate these situations.
Originality/value
This study deepens the understanding of interfaces in service modularity by describing interfaces in multi-provider contexts. The multi-provider contexts studied inspired to incorporate the inter-organizational aspect into the literature on interfaces in service modularity. This study further develops the typology for interfaces in modular services by adding a third dimension to the typology, that is, the orientation of interfaces.
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Reto Steiner, Claire Kaiser, Christopher Tapscott and Carmen Navarro
Ana Belén Jiménez Muñoz, Antonio Muiño Miguez, María Paz Rodriguez Pérez, María Dolores Vigil Escribano, María Esther Durán Garcia and María Sanjurjo Saez
Healthcare risk epidemiology identifies medication error as the commonest cause of adverse effects on patients. Medication error can occur at any phase of the complex medication…
Abstract
Purpose
Healthcare risk epidemiology identifies medication error as the commonest cause of adverse effects on patients. Medication error can occur at any phase of the complex medication process so prevalence rates need to be estimated at each drug treatment phase: prescription, transcription and administration along with their clinical repercussions. This paper aims to investigate this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Medication errors were recorded on an ad hoc sheet and staff were observed handling medications. Recorded errors were later classified and their clinical repercussions determined by experts.
Findings
In total 757 inpatients and 5,466 drug prescriptions were studied. The prescription error rate was 4.79 percent (95 percent CI 4.21‐5.36). The most frequent error in this phase was failing to observe international prescribing standards. The highest error rate was found in transcription (14.61 percent, 95 percent CI 13.67‐15.54). Almost 1,900 dose administrations were observed. There was a 9.32 percent error rate (95 percent CI 7.98‐10.67). The commonest error in this phase was omission. Most were transcription errors, which were detected before harm was done.
Research limitations/implications
The dispensation phase is absent.
Practical implications
Errors can be reduced if they are understood. Education and training based on the study's findings can reduce medication errors.
Originality/value
The paper highlights ways to reduce errors in the medication process.
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TO the Urban District Council of Sevenoaks belongs the distinction of introducing a further variety of advertisement for a librarian. They “invite applications from persons with…
Abstract
TO the Urban District Council of Sevenoaks belongs the distinction of introducing a further variety of advertisement for a librarian. They “invite applications from persons with literary taste for the appointment of librarian, who must take sole charge of the Free Library, including the reading and news rooms, at an inclusive salary of £135 per annum. Applications from persons with experience in a library preferred. The person appointed will be required to provide at his own expense such assistance as he may find necessary in carrying out the duties, including the entire cleaning of the building to the satisfaction of the Council.” This arrangement puts the librarian into the position of either having to do all the work himself, or of having to employ assistance and labour at the most wretched minimum cost. It, of course, takes the direct responsibility of employing sweated labour from the shoulders of the Council. If the librarian has to pay for this help out of an already low salary, it will leave him with a mere pittance, and he can hardly be blamed if he tries to do the best for himself. In view of this, and taking into consideration the long hours that will have to be worked and the cleaning that has to be done, it would appear that the Sevenoaks Urban District Council, instead of advertising for “persons with literary taste,” should seek a charwoman with insomnia!
Abhinav Katiyar and Vidyadhar V. Gedam
The fertilizer industry (FI) is well known for its high energy needs, reliance on limited natural resources, and negative environmental impacts (EIs). The consumption of 14.2…
Abstract
Purpose
The fertilizer industry (FI) is well known for its high energy needs, reliance on limited natural resources, and negative environmental impacts (EIs). The consumption of 14.2 billion tons (BT) of materials and the extraction of 1,580 tons of resources per acre are solely attributed to the FI. Because of FI's resource and energy-intensive nature, it becomes crucial for FI to adopt a Circular Economy (CE) to improve efficiency, energy, and resource reuse. However, FI needs to strengthen its progress toward CE adoption. The proposed study comprehends and examines the barriers that inhibit the adoption of CE in FI.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 15 barriers obstructing the CE in FI are identified and categorized into seven different categories. The barriers were identified by performing a comprehensive literature review and expert input. The study employs the DEMATEL approach to analyze the barriers and establish a causal relationship between them.
Findings
The study reveals that the most significant challenge to implementing CE in FI is governmental restrictions, which are followed by a lack of awareness and understanding and a need for a steady supply of bulk materials. The results comprehensively comprehend the pivotal factors that jeopardize the CE in FI and furnish a robust foundation for the methodology and tactics to surmount the barriers to CE adoption.
Originality/value
The literature review encompasses the barriers to the transition to CE and offers management and policy perspectives that help the FI's policy and decision-makers surmount these barriers with future research endeavors.
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This study, using a longitudinal design, examined the relationship of perceived organizational support (POS) and job satisfaction among hospital‐based nursing staff survivors of…
Abstract
This study, using a longitudinal design, examined the relationship of perceived organizational support (POS) and job satisfaction among hospital‐based nursing staff survivors of significant healthcare restructuring. In addition, the role of both restructuring processes and restructuring stressors in affecting POS, and the potential mediating role of POS in the relationship between both restructuring processes and stressors and job satisfaction, was considered. Data were collected from 393 respondents at two points separated by three years. Levels of POS were relatively low on both occasions and declined slightly over the three year period. POS and job satisfaction were found to have a bi‐directional relationship over time. Both restructuring processes and stressors had significant relationships with POS, positive and negative respectively. POS fully mediated the relationship between restructuring processes and job satisfaction and partially mediated the relationship between restructuring stressors and job satisfaction.
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Sundeep Sahay and Esther N. Landen
The purpose of this paper is to understand how digital interventions are mediating the identity work of community health workers (CHWs) in the context of two African countries.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how digital interventions are mediating the identity work of community health workers (CHWs) in the context of two African countries.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyzes the everyday work of CHWs in two low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts (Uganda and Malawi) and seeks to understand changes in collective identity and the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in mediating this “identity work”. As CHWs conduct their everyday tasks of care giving, data reporting and maintaining social interactions, they play two primary roles. One is the care giving role oriented towards the community, and two, is reporting and administrative work by virtue of them being affiliated with the Ministry of Health, either in formal or voluntary capacity. The ambivalence which they experience as they move back and forth between these two worlds of work is significantly now mediated through ICTs. The paper analyzes these dynamics and identifies three key sets of ambivalence in identity work: (1) role embracing-institutional distancing; (2) conformist-resistant and (3) dramaturgical-transformative. The paper makes unique contributions to information systems (IS) and ICT for development (ICT4D) studies in that it focuses on a nonprofessional group, which plays a fundamental role in providing care to underserved populations and also conducts data work which provides the foundation of the national health information system. This contrasts with dominant research in the field which focuses on professional groups, largely based in Western business organizations.
Findings
The paper identifies identity related tensions that emerge with the mediation of digital technologies in the work world of CHWs. These include tensions of conformist-resistant; and (3) dramaturgical-transformative. These findings are relevant and unique to the field of IS and ICT4D studies in that it focuses on a nonprofessional group, which plays a fundamental role in providing care to underserved populations and also conducts data work which provides the foundation of the national health information system.
Research limitations/implications
While acknowledging identity construction and negotiation is a function of both work and social lives, in this paper we could only focus on the work lives.
Practical implications
As digital interventions in the health sector of low and middle income countries is becoming increasingly widespread, often the focus is more on the supply side (the supply of the technology) rather than on the demand side (users experiences and aspirations). Identity becomes a lens to understand these demand side dynamics, which helps provides practical guidance on implementation approaches to ensure that the technology adds value to user work processes and there is a seamless and not a disruptive transition.
Social implications
CHWs are the most neglected cadre in the health system of low and middle income countries, even though they provide the cutting edge in care provision work to the most marginalized populations, living in rural and underserved areas. By focusing on how technologies can be more effectively implemented to support these care processes, the paper provides important social implications both for practice and research.
Originality/value
Analysis of identity construction and negotiation of informal groups in the unorganized sector of low and middle income countries has not received adequate attention in IS research. The paper seeks to fill this important gap.