Clinical governance in Australia

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan D Spigelman ◽  
Shane Rendalls
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Clinical Governance ◽  
Success Factor ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
Funding Policy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health Service Providers ◽  
Governance Systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to overview, background and context to clinical governance in Australia, areas for further development and potential learnings for other jurisdictions. Design/methodology/approach – Commentary; non-systematic review of clinical governance literature; review of web sites for national, state and territory health departments, quality and safety organisations, and clinical colleges in Australia. Findings – Clinical governance in Australia shows variation across jurisdictions, reflective of a fragmented health system with responsibility for funding, policy and service provision being divided between levels of government and across service streams. The mechanisms in place to protect and engage with consumers thus varies according to where one lives. Information on quality and safety outcomes also varies; is difficult to find and often does not drill down to a service level useful for informing consumer treatment decisions. Organisational stability was identified as a key success factor in realising and maintaining the cultural shift to deliver ongoing quality. Research limitations/implications – Comparison of quality indicators with clinical governance systems and processes at a hospital level will provide a more detailed understanding of components most influencing quality outcomes. Practical implications – The information reported will assist health service providers to improve information and processes to engage with consumers and build further transparency and accountability. Originality/value – In this paper the authors have included an in depth profile of the background and context for the current state of clinical governance in Australia. The authors expect the detail provided will be of use to the international reader unfamiliar with the nuances of the Australian Healthcare System. Other studies (e.g. Russell and Dawda, 2013; Phillips et al., n.d.) have been based on deep professional understanding of clinical governance in appraising and reporting on initaitives and structures. This review has utilised resources available to an informed consumer seeking to understand the quality and safety of health services.

scholarly journals Clinical leadership in paramedic services: a narrative synthesis

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 251-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter O’Meara ◽  
Gary Wingrove ◽  
Michael Nolan
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Clinical Governance ◽  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
Narrative Synthesis ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
Clinical Leadership ◽  
Content Type

Purpose In North America, delegated practice “medical direction” models are often used as a proxy for clinical quality and safety in paramedic services. Other developed countries favor a combination of professional regulatory boards and clinical governance frameworks that feature paramedics taking lead clinician roles. The purpose of this paper is to bring together the evidence for medical direction and clinical governance in paramedic services through the prism of paramedic self-regulation. Design/methodology/approach This narrative synthesis critically examines the long-established North American Emergency Medical Services medical direction model and makes some comparisons with the UK inspired clinical governance approaches that are used to monitor and manage the quality and safety in several other Anglo-American paramedic services. The databases searched were CINAHL and Medline, with Google Scholar used to capture further publications. Findings Synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature found little high quality evidence supporting the effectiveness of medical direction. The literature on clinical governance within paramedic services described a systems approach with shared responsibility for quality and safety. Contemporary paramedic clinical leadership papers in developed countries focus on paramedic professionalization and the self-regulation of paramedics. Originality/value The lack of strong evidence supporting medical direction of the paramedic profession in developed countries challenges the North American model of paramedics practicing as a companion profession to medicine under delegated practice model. This model is inconsistent with the international vision of paramedicine as an autonomous, self-regulated health profession.

Supporting and activating clinical governance development in Ireland: sharing our learning

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen A. Flynn ◽  
Thora Burgess ◽  
Philip Crowley
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Clinical Governance ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Governance Framework ◽  
Integrative Research ◽  
Action Project ◽  
Action Projects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a description of the Irish national clinical governance development initiative and an evaluation of the initiative with the purpose of sharing the learning and proposing actions to activate structures and processes for quality and safety. The Quality and Patient Safety Division of the Health Service Executive established the initiative to counterbalance a possible focus on finances during the economic crisis in Ireland and bring attention to the quality of clinical care. Design/methodology/approach – A clinical governance framework for quality in healthcare in Ireland was developed to clearly articulate the fundamentals of clinical governance. The project plan involved three overlapping phases. The first was designing resources for practice; the second testing the implementation of the national resources in practice; and the third phase focused on gathering feedback and learning. Findings – Staff responded positively to the clinical governance framework. At a time when there are a lot of demands (measurement and scrutiny) the health services leads and responds well to focused support as they improve the quality and safety of services. Promoting the use of the term “governance for quality and safety” assisted in gaining an understanding of the more traditional term “clinical governance”. The experience and outcome of the initiative informed the identification of 12 key learning points and a series of recommendations Research limitations/implications – The initial evaluation was conducted at 24 months so at this stage it is not possible to assess the broader impact of the clinical governance framework beyond the action project hospitals. Practical implications – The single most important obligation for any health system is patient safety and improving the quality of care. The easily accessible, practical resources assisted project teams to lead changes in structures and processes within their services. This paper describes the fundamentals of the clinical governance framework which might serve as a guide for more integrative research endeavours on governance for quality and safety. Originality/value – Experience was gained in both the development of national guidance and their practical use in targeted action projects activating structures and processes that are a prerequisite to delivering safe quality services.

scholarly journals Logistics service providers and corporate social responsibility: sustainability reporting in the logistics industry

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 459-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Izabela Piecyk ◽  
Maria Björklund
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Csr Reporting ◽  
Logistics Service Providers ◽  
Reporting Framework ◽  
Corporate Web Sites ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
A Company

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a content analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports published by logistics service providers (LSPs), and to analyse factors influencing the level and scope of reporting. In order to address this objective, the authors show to what extent various social and environmental categories are covered in the CSR reports. The authors also investigate whether any differences in the use of CSR indicators can be found with regard to the use of a formal reporting framework, the size of a company, location of its headquarter, and ownership structure. Design/methodology/approach – The study begins with a comprehensive literature review on the CSR policies and practices in relation to the field of logistics. A database of 350 international LSPs is compiled based on independent rankings of top logistics companies. Applying a content analysis approach, corporate web sites and CSR reports are examined in order to investigate how sustainability is reported and what CSR-related indicators are published. Statistical analysis is carried out to provide insight into whether any differences in the use of CSR indicators can be found with regard to four key factors identified in the literature review. Findings – Although aspects of sustainability are mentioned on corporate web sites of most LSPs in the database (53 per cent), only 13 per cent publish formal CSR reports. This research identifies a variety of indicators used by LSPs and shows that the use of a formal reporting framework and the size of a company are the two main factors influencing the levels of CSR reporting in the sector. Practical implications – This paper provides an insight into how transparently LSPs report on the sustainability of their performance. LSPs can compare their own CSR reporting approaches to the body of scientific literature and the findings presented in this paper, in order to adapt more general concepts and best practice evidence to their needs. Social implications – By focusing on best practice in reporting of the environmental and social performance, this research can potentially improve the long-term sustainability of the logistics sector. Originality/value – This is the first study providing a comprehensive review of the CSR reporting practice in the third party logistics sector. As such, this paper provides an important basis for CSR-related research in the field of logistics and supply chain management. Several areas for future research are also identified.

The effect of social embeddedness on bloggers’ creativity

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsiu-Hua Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Social Embeddedness ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Structural Embeddedness ◽  
Relational Embeddedness ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – Blogs provide opportunities for bloggers to create. This creativity can attract audiences and generate commercial success for blog service providers (BSPs). Thus to obtain competitive advantage, such providers should stimulate their bloggers to produce creative content. The purpose of this paper is to adopt social embeddedness and creativity theory to explore factors influencing blogger creativity. Design/methodology/approach – An online questionnaire and an online embeddedness system are used to collect data from 353 bloggers, including data on their motivation, integration ability, structural and relational embeddedness and creativity. Hierarchical regression is applied for statistical analysis. Findings – Analytical results show that structural embeddedness and relational embeddedness affect blogger creativity. Additionally motivation negatively moderates the relationship between structural embeddedness and creativity, and integration ability negatively moderates the relationship between relational embeddedness and creativity. Research limitations/implications – This study applies social embeddedness to elucidate the relationships among quantity and quality of professional knowledge and creativity. This study also discusses the moderating effect of motivation and integration ability on the relationship between social embeddedness and creativity. Practical implications – Creative articles by bloggers can popularise a blog platform, as they can retain bloggers and attract new bloggers. Therefore, for BSPs enhancing the creative performance of bloggers is one way to obtain competitive advantage. Originality/value – The study contributes to knowledge of social embeddedness and creativity on blog web sites, and importantly, this study develops a model that explains how antecedents influence blogger creativity.

A spatial analysis of Los Angeles County’s burden of serious mental illness in relation to public mental health service providers

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 231-239
Author(s):  
Sarah Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Serious Mental Illness ◽  
Los Angeles County ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health Service Providers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify regions of Los Angeles County with high burdens of serious mental illness and determine whether these regions align with those experiencing the greatest economic hardship. Design/methodology/approach This cross-sectional study analyzed the estimated prevalence of serious mental illness and the locations of publicly funded mental health service providers within each census tract of Los Angeles County. The burden of serious mental illness was calculated for each census tract using these variables and an optimized hot spot analysis was conducted to determine which regions were the most underserved in terms of serious mental illness. Findings There is a significantly higher burden of serious mental illness in Southeastern Los Angeles and Pomona Valley than in the rest of Los Angeles County (p = 0.01). The same can be said regarding the Lancaster-Palmdale area and San Fernando Valley (p = 0.05). These areas do appear to align with the areas of Los Angeles County with an economic hardship index in the fourth quartile. Originality/value Mental health initiatives targeting the four hot spot regions should be given priority by the County of Los Angeles. This is especially true when allocating funds from Proposition 63, which aims to address mental health disparities in underserved, unserved or inappropriately served populations.

Will the customers be happy? Identifying unsatisfied customers from service encounter data

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas Baier ◽  
Niklas Kühl ◽  
Ronny Schüritz ◽  
Gerhard Satzger
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Service Management ◽  
Service Use ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Supervised Machine Learning ◽  
Service Encounter ◽  
Service Development ◽  
Success Factor ◽  
Content Type

PurposeWhile the understanding of customer satisfaction is a key success factor for service enterprises, existing elicitation approaches suffer from several drawbacks such as high manual effort or delayed availability. However, the rise of analytical methods allows for the automatic and instant analysis of encounter data captured during service delivery in order to identify unsatisfied customers.Design/methodology/approachBased on encounter data of 1,584 IT incidents in a real-world service use case, supervised machine learning models to predict unsatisfied customers are trained and evaluated.FindingsWe show that the identification of unsatisfied customers from encounter data is well feasible: via a logistic regression approach, we predict dissatisfied customers already with decent accuracy—a substantial improvement to the current situation of “flying blind”. In addition, we are able to quantify the impacts of key service elements on customer satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsThe possibility to understand the relationship between encounter data and customer satisfaction will offer ample opportunities to evaluate and expand existing service management theories.Practical implicationsIdentifying dissatisfied customers from encounter data adds a valuable methodology to customer service management. Detecting unsatisfied customers already during the service encounter enables service providers to immediately address service failures, start recovery actions early and, thus, reduce customer attrition. In addition, providers will gain a deeper understanding of the relevant drivers of customer satisfaction informing future new service development.Originality/valueThis article proposes an extendable data-based approach to predict customer satisfaction in an automated, timely and cost-effective way. With increasing data availability, such AI-based approaches will spread quickly and unlock potential to gain important insights for service management.

Fostering a healthcare sector quality and safety culture

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 796-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Santa ◽  
Silvio Borrero ◽  
Mario Ferrer ◽  
Daniela Gherissi
Keyword(s):  
Safety Culture ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
National Level ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Results

Purpose Quality issues, increasing patient expectations and unsatisfactory media reports are driving patient safety concerns. Developing a quality and safety culture (QSC) is, therefore, crucial for patient and staff welfare, and should be a priority for service providers and policy makers. The purpose of this paper is to identify the most important QSC drivers, and thus propose appropriate operational actions for Saudi Arabian hospital managers and for managers in healthcare institutions worldwide. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative data from 417 questionnaires were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Respondents were selected from various hospitals and managerial positions at a national level. Findings Findings suggest that error feedback (FAE) and communication quality (QC) have a strong role fostering or enhancing QSC. Findings also show that fearing potential punitive responses to mistakes made on the job, hospital staff are reluctant to report errors. Practical implications To achieve a healthcare QSC, managers need to implement preemptive or corrective actions aimed at ensuring prompt and relevant feedback about errors, ensure clear and open communication and focus on continuously improving systems and processes rather than on failures related to individual performance. Originality/value This paper adds value to national healthcare, as Saudi study results are probably generalizable to other healthcare systems throughout the world.

“I’m going to prove you wrong”

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 210-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Desireé Vega ◽  
James L. Moore III ◽  
Antoinette H. Miranda
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
School Counselors ◽  
School Psychologists ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Perceived Discrimination ◽  
African American Youth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Health Service Providers

Purpose – This study aims to explore perceptions of discrimination among ten African American youths as part of a larger qualitative investigation. Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative methodology utilized the “Prove them Wrong Syndrome” as a theoretical framework. Individual interviews and biographical questionnaires were the primary sources of data collection. Findings – Four major themes emerged from data analysis: perceived discrimination from others, perceived discrimination from members of one’s own racial group, responses to perceived discrimination and buffers against perceived discrimination. Practical implications – Implications for educators including teachers, school psychologists and school counselors are discussed. Originality/value – This paper attempted to fill the void in the literature, as it explored the perceptions of discrimination among African American youth, their responses to perceived discrimination and the identification of buffers to compensate for negative experiences with discrimination. Prove them Wrong Syndrome emerged as a major finding in this study as a response to perceived discrimination; nonetheless, it should be further evaluated, as limited research has been conducted in this area. Teachers must be aware of issues students of color may experience at school such as discrimination and how this can harm them emotionally and academically. Moreover, school psychologists and school counselors should be utilized as mental health service providers to combat the potentially negative outcomes of discrimination.

scholarly journals Exploring customers’ zone of tolerance for B2B professional service quality

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 380-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus Ho ◽  
Piyush Sharma ◽  
Peter Hosie
Keyword(s):  
Firm Size ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Expectations ◽  
Zone Of Tolerance ◽  
Business To Business

Purpose – This paper aims to extend the current research on zone of tolerance (ZOT) and its antecedents, to the context of business-to-business (B2B) professional services from both client and service firms’ perspectives, with a modified ZOT framework including five client and service firms attributes as antecedents of desired (DSL) and adequate (ASL) service levels. Prior research on zone of tolerance (ZOT) and its antecedents mostly focuses on business-to-consumer services and customers’ perspective. The authors address these gaps with a modified ZOT framework with five attributes of client and service firms as antecedents of customer expectations, namely, desired service level (DSL) and adequate service level (ASL), for business-to-business (B2B) professional services. Design/methodology/approach – A combination of qualitative (focus groups) and quantitative (online survey) research methods with managers of professional audit firms and their clients, using a reduced AUDITQUAL instrument with 39 items and seven dimensions. Findings – Professional firm size and fee premium have a positive effect on DSL; service tenure positively influences both DSL and ASL; client firm size has a negative effect on DSL; both client and service firm sizes positively moderate each other’s influence on the DSL; and DSL positively influences ASL. Research limitations/implications – The authors study a single B2B professional service (audit) in a single city (Hong Kong) from a single perspective (customers) that may limit the generalizability of the findings. Future research should validate the findings for other B2B professional services in diverse locations and also include service providers’ expectations and perceptions. Practical implications – Managers in professional service firms should understand the factors influencing different levels of expectations for their customers and develop suitable strategies (e.g. customer education and employee training) to manage these expectations more effectively. Originality/value – The authors extend current research on customer expectations and ZOT by identifying five unique attributes of professional service and client firms and testing their roles as antecedents of adequate and DSLs using AUDITQUAL instrument.

Interprofessional training on brief intervention for older adults

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance L Coogle ◽  
Myra G Owens
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Brief Intervention ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Screening And Brief Intervention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health Service Providers ◽  
Willingness To Recommend

Purpose – In recent years, Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI) has become increasingly available to older adults who engage in at-risk drinking behaviors. The results of SBI training sessions that targeted hospital-based healthcare providers, as well as mental health service providers in community-based clinics, are reported. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 93 participants attended SBI active learning training sessions. The responses of physicians/physicians in training about their intentions to apply the information in professional practice and their willingness to recommend the training to others in their profession were compared to practitioners in other professions. Findings – Although there were no differences in terms of commitment to apply the information or level of comfort using the techniques, physicians/physicians in training were less interested in promoting the SBI training among their colleagues. Research limitations/implications – The results are limited with respect to the number of training participants engaged and the geography entailed, yet implications for addressing barriers to widespread implementation and training challenges are explored. Practical implications – Although it may be more difficult to promote SBI training in locations that do not primarily provide mental health services, hospitals, and other primary care settings are precisely where training may be most useful. Social implications – The importance of training approaches to SBI that are disseminated within the context of a public health model of clinical preventive services is highlighted. Originality/value – Original research is presented to highlight the need to improve training receptivity and facilitate the translation into practice.

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