Search results

In the OECD countries, hospitals face increased financial restrictions and competition. Process orientation is an essential means of remaining competitive. A wide range of theories and concepts relating to clinical process management already exists. When it comes to practical implementation, however, a comprehensive approach for the target‐oriented and consistent introduction of clinical process management throughout an entire hospital is missing. The purpose of this paper is to document the case of a German hospital that has realised a project of this kind and demonstrate the impacts on cooperation and on operational efficiency, which is understood as the degree to which a hospital is capable of steadily realising short lengths of stay.

The case shows the approach to implementing theories and concepts for managing clinical processes in practice as a consistent management system in the day‐to‐day use of process management and its impacts.

The effect of using clinical processes shown in the case is an additional net profit of several million euros a year – without a reduction in quality.

While the impacts of clinical pathways on hospitals are not country‐specific, the reasons are nonetheless subject to the political and economic conditions. Therefore, some findings are only valid for hospitals in German‐speaking countries. However, major effects (e.g. reduction in the length of stay) may exist everywhere.

The paper shows how process orientation in a medium‐sized hospital can be systematically implemented.

The study of psychological anthropology represents the interworkings of the theories, concepts, empirical findings, and methodologies of psychology and anthropology. This discussion of resources is written from the point of view of an anthropologist, not a psychologist. The psychologists have a related, though not identical, discipline called cross‐cultural psychology. As no scholar nor group of scholars can afford to live in a void, we find the works of members of both disciplines appearing in the same publications. This fact will be evident in the description of resources to follow.

The World Bank report Changing Wealth of Nations 2018 is only the most recent reminder of how much poorer Africa is becoming, losing more than US$100 billion annually from minerals, oil, and gas extraction, according to (quite conservatively framed) environmentally sensitive adjustments of wealth. With popular opposition to socioeconomic, political, and ecological abuses rising rapidly in Africa, a robust debate may be useful: between those practicing anti-extractivist resistance, and those technocrats in states and international agencies who promote “ecological modernization” strategies. The latter typically aim to generate full-cost environmental accounting, and to do so they typically utilize market-related techniques to value, measure, and price nature. Between the grassroots and technocratic standpoints, a layer of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) do not yet appear capable of grappling with anti-extractivist politics with either sufficient intellectual tools or political courage. They instead revert to easier terrains within ecological modernization: revenue transparency, project damage mitigation, Free Prior and Informed Consent (community consultation and permission), and other assimilationist reforms. More attention to political-economic and political-ecological trends – including the end of the commodity super-cycle, worsening climate change, financial turbulence and the potential end of a 40-year long globalization process – might assist anti-extractivist activists and NGO reformers alike. Both could then gravitate to broader, more effective ways of conceptualizing extraction and unequal ecological exchange, especially in Africa’s hardest hit and most extreme sites of devastation.

Artificial intelligence and robo-advisory have become prevalent in the finance industry, and many people rely on robots instead of humans for financial advice. This study aims to examine whether robo-advisory increases retirement worry based on agency theory and rational choice theory.

The present study investigate whether relying on robots for financial advice increases retirement-related worry in the present study. Using a sample of 1915 investors from the National Financial Capability Study (NCFS) survey, the author conducted instrumental variable regression analysis to examine the causal linkage.

Using fear of financial fraud as an instrument variable, the study provides a causal explanation of the linkage between robo-advisory usage and retirement worry. After controlling for sociodemographic and financial literacy-related variables, it is found that robo-advisory increases retirement worry.

Findings of the study emphasize on downsides of the artificial intelligence-enabled robo-advisory for financial planning. This article provides evidence that a lack of human involvement in financial planning may lead to increased worry among investors, which calls for attention from the regulators and policymakers.

Managing international research projects in the academic field is far from being easy. Apart from the problems of language and semantics, it requires awareness not only of cultural differences but also of the different phases of such projects. The authors analyse and elaborate on each of these phases. According to their own experiences, they conclude that what is difficult in such projects is not so much to monitor the cultural variables as to manage peers who usually behave independently in their academic circles.