Search results

1 – 2 of 2
Per page
102050
Citations:
Loading...
Access Restricted. View access options
Article
Publication date: 20 March 2009

Roslyn Sorensen and Rick Iedema

This paper aims to understand the impact of emotional labour in specific health care settings and its potential effect on patient care.

3119

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to understand the impact of emotional labour in specific health care settings and its potential effect on patient care.

Design/methodology/approach

Multi‐method qualitative ethnographic study undertaken in a large ICU in Sydney, Australia using observations from patient case studies, ward rounds and family conferences, open ended interviews with medical and nursing clinicians and managers and focus groups with nurses.

Findings

Clinician attitudes to death and dying and clinicians' capacity to engage with the human needs of patients influenced how emotional labour was experienced. Negative effects were not formally acknowledged in clinical workplaces and institutional mechanisms to support clinicians did not exist.

Research limitations/implications

The potential effects of clinician attitudes on performance are hypothesised from clinician‐reported data; no evaluation was undertaken of patient care.

Practical implications

Health service providers must openly acknowledge the effect of emotional labour on the care of dying people. By sharing their experiences, multidisciplinary clinicians become aware of the personal, professional and organisational impact of emotional labour as a core element of health care so as to explicitly and practically respond to it.

Originality/value

The effect of care on clinicians, particularly care of dying people, not only affects the wellbeing of clinicians themselves, but also the quality of care that patients receive. The affective aspect of clinical work must be factored in as an essential element of quality and quality improvement.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 23 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Access Restricted. View access options
Article
Publication date: 28 October 2013

Roslyn Sorensen, Glenn Paull, Linda Magann and JanMaree Davis

This paper aims to assess administrative and clinical manager stances on health system reform. Understanding these stances will help to identify cultural differences and competing…

1331

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to assess administrative and clinical manager stances on health system reform. Understanding these stances will help to identify cultural differences and competing agendas between these two key health service stakeholders and contribute to developing strategies to improve organisational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative methodology was used comprising in-depth open-ended interviews conducted in 2007 with 26 administrative and clinical managers who managed clinical units.

Findings

This paper provides empirical insights into the ways that administrative and clinical mangers conceive of their managerial roles in relation to health care reform and performance improvement in health services. The findings suggest that developing a hybrid clinical manager culture as a means to bridge the gap between administrative and clinical manager stances on reform objectives, while possible, is not yet being realised.

Research limitations/implications

The research has relevance for health services that are experiencing organisational transformation. However, its location in one health service limits the generalisability of findings to other sites. Further research is needed to assess the opportunities for a hybrid culture to emerge as well as its effect.

Practical implications

While attention is predominantly directed to clinician groups as a key stakeholder in implementing health reform policies, this paper has implications for how administrative managers also structure their roles and responsibilities to create an organisational climate conducive to change. This will include strategies to support clinical managers to make the transition from a predominantly clinical, to a clinical managerial, orientation.

Originality/value

This paper addresses a significant problem in health service governance, namely the divide between the value stances of dual hierarchies. This problem is only now gaining prominence as a significant barrier to health reform.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 27 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

1 – 2 of 2
Per page
102050