Liselotte Jakobsson and Leif Holmberg
The purpose of this paper is to study patients' attitudes to nurses and investigate what hampering factors occur in the actual nursing situation and what patient features might…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study patients' attitudes to nurses and investigate what hampering factors occur in the actual nursing situation and what patient features might affect cooperative climates.
Design/methodology/approach
In‐depth interviews were conducted with 11 male inpatients suffering prostate cancer. The interviews were personal narrations based on open‐ended questions. The theoretical basis is founded in sense‐making, trust and competence.
Findings
Existential issues related to nursing care were interpreted by nurses as a need for (technical) information. However, respondents indicated a need for professional support regarding their whole life. The social climate seems not to be optimal for existential talk owing to hospital routines. Patients' personal traits also affect the propensity to cooperation, and three types were distinguished: cooperating patients; passive patients; and denying patients. Nurses' competence may be regarded as hierarchical levels from optimising single items, over system optimisation and to optimisation from the patient perspective. The study indicates that not even first‐level requirements are met.
Research limitations/implications
Only patients' views were studied. Nurses' perceptions would add additional insights. Lack of personal relations and cooperation between patient and nurse may decrease service quality. Patient attitudes seem to be a major obstacle. For some patients, passively receiving technical information may be an excuse for not wanting to participate in mutual sense‐making. The supposed need for technical information may also be an excuse for nurses to avoid more sensitive issues.
Originality/value
Better quality of care involves changing patient perceptions and attitudes to what constitutes nursing competence.
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Liselotte Jakobsson and Leif Holmberg
This article aims to shows how changing information routines might influence service quality perceptions. A secondary aim was to test an instrument's everyday feasibility for…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to shows how changing information routines might influence service quality perceptions. A secondary aim was to test an instrument's everyday feasibility for healthcare quality assessment.
Design/methodology/approach
Patients often show high‐grade satisfaction with general care although they display dissatisfaction with some information they receive. A questionnaire survey was used to establish patient satisfaction after introducing standardised guidelines for nursing performance and information provision. Patient satisfaction was assessed using “quality from the patient's perspective” (QPP) questionnaire. Patients from gynaecological and haematological wards (n=71) (the study group) and a comparison group (n=67) were surveyed. Patients were given the questionnaire when their diagnosis was confirmed, after six months and 12 months. Data were collected over 36 months.
Findings
The study group showed an increased satisfaction with information from nurses (p=0.001) but not physicians. However, patients tended to put greater emphasis on socio‐cultural issues than information and cooperation seemed to represent high quality from the patient's perspective.
Research limitations/implications
Successively lower response rate, mainly owing to cancer patients' deteriorating medical conditions. The study verifies the concordance model's relative merits.
Practical implications
The study verifies that care's softer side appears to be more important to patients than information improvements.
Originality/value
Results confirm that patients' satisfaction with information had implications for overall quality; but social issues seemed more important and enhancing quality is best achieved through participation and cooperation.
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Leif Runefelt and Lauren Alex O’Hagan
The purpose of this paper is to provide the first comprehensive examination of the early cannabis-based food products industry, using Sweden as a case study. Drawing upon…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide the first comprehensive examination of the early cannabis-based food products industry, using Sweden as a case study. Drawing upon historical newspaper articles and advertisements from the Swedish Historical Newspaper Archive, the authors trace the short-lived development of the industry, from the initial exploitation of fears of tuberculosis in the late 19th century, followed by the “boom” in hempseed extract products and the widening of its claimed effects and, finally, increased skepticism and critiques of such products across the popular press in the early 20th century.
Design/methodology/approach
A rigorous search of the Swedish Historical Newspaper Archive was conducted to gather newspaper articles and advertisements on cannabis-based foods. The collected resources were scrutinized using critical discourse analysis to tease out key discourses at work, particularly around the concepts of health, nutrition and science.
Findings
The authors find that central to the marketization of cannabis-based foods was the construction of disease based on scientific and medical discourse, fearmongering to create a strong consumer base and individualization to place responsibility on consumers to take action to protect their family’s health. This demonstrates not only the long historical relationship between science and food marketing but also how brands’ health claims could often be fraudulent or overstated.
Originality/value
It is important to cast a historical lens on the commercialization of cannabis-based food products because demand for similar types of products has rapidly grown over the past decade. Now, just as before, manufacturers tap into consumers’ insecurities about health, and many of the same questions continue to be mooted about products’ safety. Paying greater attention to the broader and problematic history of commercial cannabis can, thus, serve as a reminder for both consumers and policymakers to think twice about whether hemp really is for health and if the claims it espouses are a mirage rather than a miracle.
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Rama Koteswara Rao Kondasani and Rajeev Kumar Panda
– The purpose of this paper is to analyse how perceived service quality and customer satisfaction lead to loyalty towards healthcare service providers.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse how perceived service quality and customer satisfaction lead to loyalty towards healthcare service providers.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 475 hospital patients participated in a questionnaire survey in five Indian private hospitals. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, regression and correlation statistics were employed to analyse customer perceived service quality and how it leads to loyalty towards service providers.
Finding
Results indicate that the service seeker-service provider relationship, quality of facilities and the interaction with supporting staff have a positive effect on customer perception.
Practical implications
Findings help healthcare managers to formulate effective strategies to ensure a better quality of services to the customers. This study helps healthcare managers to build customer loyalty towards healthcare services, thereby attracting and gaining more customers.
Originality/value
This paper will help healthcare managers and service providers to analyse customer perceptions and their loyalty towards Indian private healthcare services.
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Meen Chul Kim, Yuanyuan Feng and Yongjun Zhu
Library Hi Tech is one of the most influential journals that publish leading research in library and information science (LIS). The present study aims to understand the scholarly…
Abstract
Purpose
Library Hi Tech is one of the most influential journals that publish leading research in library and information science (LIS). The present study aims to understand the scholarly communication in Library Hi Tech by profiling its historic footprint, emerging trends and knowledge diffusion.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 3,131 bibliographic records between 1995 and 2018 were collected from the Web of Science. Text mining, graph analysis and data visualization were used to analyze subject category assignment, domain-level citation trends, co-occurrence of keywords, keyword bursts, networks of document co-citation and landmark articles.
Findings
Findings indicated that published research in the journal was largely influenced by the psychology, education and social domain as a unidisciplinary discipline. Knowledge of the journal has been disseminated into multiple domains such as LIS, computer science and education. Dominant thematic concentrations were also identified: (1) library services in academic libraries and related to digital libraries, (2) adoption of new information technologies and (3) information-seeking behavior in these contexts. Additionally, the journal has exhibited an increased research emphasis on mixed-method user-centered studies and investigations into libraries' use of new media.
Originality/value
This study provides a promising approach to understand scientific trends and the intellectual growth of journals. It also helps Library Hi Tech to become more self-explanatory with a detailed bibliometric profile and to identify future directions in editorship and readership. Finally, researchers in the community can better position their studies within the emerging trends and current challenges of the journal.