bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Motivations for an organisation within a developing country to report social responsibility information
Authors: Azizul Islam Muhammad , Deegan Craig 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe aim of the paper is to describe and explain, using a combination of interviews and content analysis, the social and environmental reporting practices of a major garment export organisation within a developing country.Design/methodology/approachSenior executives from a major organisation in Bangladesh are interviewed to determine the pressures being exerted on them in terms of their social and environmental performance. The perceptions of pressures are then used to explain – via content analysis – changing social and environmental disclosure practices.FindingsThe results show that particular stakeholder groups have, since the early 1990s, placed pressure on the Bangladeshi clothing industry in terms of its social performance. This pressure, which is also directly related to the expectations of the global community, in turn drives the industry's social policies and related disclosure practices.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings show that, within the context of a developing country, unless we consider the managers' perceptions about the social and environmental expectations being imposed upon them by powerful stakeholder groups then we will be unable to understand organisational disclosure practices.Originality/valueThis paper is the first known paper to interview managers from a large organisation in a developing country about changing stakeholder expectations and then link these changing expectations to annual report disclosures across an extended period of analysis.
Medical waste management practices in a Southern African hospital
Authors: Aseweh Abor Patience , Bouwer Anton 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the medical waste management practices of a hospital in Southern Africa.Design/methodology/approachA case study methodology was utilised.FindingsThe results revealed that the hospital does not quantify medical waste. Segregation of medical waste into infectious waste and non‐infectious waste is not conducted according to definite rules and standards. Separation of medical waste and municipal waste is however practiced to a satisfactory extent. Wheeled trolleys are used for on‐site transportation of waste. Off‐site transportation of waste is outsourced to a private firm. Incineration is used in the final disposal of infectious waste. Non‐infectious waste is disposed using land disposal method. There is no policy and plan in place for managing medical waste. A number of problems were identified with respect to medical waste management.Originality/valueThe paper gives recommendations with the aim of improving medical waste management in hospitals.
The same day admissions unit for elective surgery: a case study
Authors: Vijay Vardhini , Kazzaz Sarmad , Refson Jonathan 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the activity of a purpose‐built elective surgery unit in a busy district general hospital and the patient journey associated with same day admission to the elective surgery unit.Design/methodology/approachThis paper describes the layout of the elective surgery unit in a busy district general hospital and the associated patient journey. Early challenges are identified and potential cost savings calculated.FindingsThe potential for cost savings in the NHS with purpose‐built units for elective surgery are immense.Originality/valueAn elective surgery unit has not been described in detail before. Apart from its value to the NHS, hospitals in developing countries can benefit from knowing about the early challenges, described in the paper, that were faced.
Consensus‐based policy recommendations for geriatric emergency care
Authors: Parke Belinda , McCusker Jane 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to establish policy recommendations to address service and care delivery challenges facing hospital emergency departments (EDs) responding to the needs of increasing numbers of older adults.Design/methodology/approachThe consensus development process used an international expert interdisciplinary panel, convened at an international conference. Following a round table discussion and think‐tank session, a nominal group method with constant comparative analysis and coding techniques was used to identify policy recommendations. Two rounds of electronic input followed the face‐to‐face meeting to reach consensus on priority ranking of the policy recommendations. Findings underwent an external review by four independent experts.FindingsA total of seven categories of policy recommendations were developed: education, integration and coordination of care, resources, ED physical environment, evidence‐based practice, research and evaluation, and advocacy.Research limitations/implicationsThe consensus development process did not include a systematic literature review on the topic. However, participants included experts in their disciplines.Practical implicationsThe recommendations may assist administrators, policy makers, clinicians, and researchers on future directions for improving emergency care and service delivery for older adults.Originality/valueThe paper describes the process and results of a consensus development activity for ED care and services of older adults.
Health care accreditation surveyor styles typology
Authors: Greenfield David , Braithwaite Jeffrey , Pawsey Marjorie 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate how health care accreditation surveyors enact their role with a view to identifying a surveyor styles typology.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted in two phases. First, observational research was used to examine the conduct of a small survey team during the 2005 accreditation survey of a rural health service in Australia. The survey team was from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS), the major health care accreditation agency in Australia. Second, the emerging typology was reviewed by an expert panel of ACHS surveyors.FindingsA typology comprising three unique surveyor styles is identified – interrogator; explorer; and discusser. Additionally, a further style, the questioner, is hypothesised.Research limitation/implicationsThe typology has application for development by accreditation agencies to be used with surveyors as a self‐reflection tool to improve learning and development. The knowledge gained about surveyors' styles can be used to match more effectively survey teams to organisations seeking accreditation. Further research is necessary to confirm these styles and examine whether other styles are apparent.Originality/valueThis study is an important step in examining the conduct of surveyors and opening up health care accreditation surveyor inter‐rater reliability for further investigation.
Eliminating US hospital medical errors
Authors: Kumar Sameer , Steinebach Marc 
Published: August 2008

PurposeHealthcare costs in the USA have continued to rise steadily since the 1980s. Medical errors are one of the major causes of deaths and injuries of thousands of patients every year, contributing to soaring healthcare costs. The purpose of this study is to examine what has been done to deal with the medical‐error problem in the last two decades and present a closed‐loop mistake‐proof operation system for surgery processes that would likely eliminate preventable medical errors.Design/methodology/approachThe design method used is a combination of creating a service blueprint, implementing the six sigma DMAIC cycle, developing cause‐and‐effect diagrams as well as devising poka‐yokes in order to develop a robust surgery operation process for a typical US hospital.FindingsIn the improve phase of the six sigma DMAIC cycle, a number of poka‐yoke techniques are introduced to prevent typical medical errors (identified through cause‐and‐effect diagrams) that may occur in surgery operation processes in US hospitals. It is the authors' assertion that implementing the new service blueprint along with the poka‐yokes, will likely result in the current medical error rate to significantly improve to the six‐sigma level. Additionally, designing as many redundancies as possible in the delivery of care will help reduce medical errors.Practical implicationsPrimary healthcare providers should strongly consider investing in adequate doctor and nurse staffing, and improving their education related to the quality of service delivery to minimize clinical errors. This will lead to an increase in higher fixed costs, especially in the shorter time frame.Originality/valueThis paper focuses additional attention needed to make a sound technical and business case for implementing six sigma tools to eliminate medical errors that will enable hospital managers to increase their hospital's profitability in the long run and also ensure patient safety.
Care programmes and integrated care pathways
Authors: Joosten Tom C.M. , Bongers Inge M.B. , Bert R. Meijboom Ir 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe article discusses how care programmes and integrated care pathways can be linked, finding ways to improve healthcare process professional and logistical quality from a supply chain and a network point‐of‐view.Design/methodology/approachThe authors argue that owing to cost containment goals and increasing healthcare demand, healthcare services systems are challenged to improve service quality, whilst at the same time finding ways to improve delivery processes. It explores if the combination of two instruments, care programmes and integrated care pathways, can meet both goals. This combination is illustrated by an example from the Institute of Mental Health Care Eindhoven en de Kempen.FindingsAnalysis suggests that care programmes can be combined with integrated care pathways, leading to a situation where both quality and process improvement can be reached. These instruments are complementary.Research limitations/implicationsThe article is largely conceptual; ideas are presented to stimulate thinking rather than to prove an argument.Practical implicationsCombining care programmes and integrated care pathways has implications for the way we think about and organise healthcare processes.Originality/valueThere have been few publications on instruments combining both a network and a supply chain approach to describe and understand healthcare processes.
Dismissing the disgruntled: Swedish patient complaints management
Authors: Kent Alexandra 
Published: August 2008

PurposeOver the past decade the Swedish system for dealing with patient complaints has come under increasingly intense scrutiny from both healthcare providers and consumers. This article summarizes contemporary Swedish viewpoints on the debate by using sociological theory combined with anthropological field data. Its purpose is to prompt radical reappraisal of some attitudes underlying the current handling of patient complaints in Sweden and perhaps elsewhere.Design/methodology/approachThe material presented here is partly a collation of literature and contemporary debate articles. A number of cases are explored including material taken from ongoing anthropological fieldwork among patients who are or have lodged complaints. Fieldwork was begun in May 2006 and consists of in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews, thus far with six patients, about their experiences lodging complaints. Contact with patients is ongoing as their stories continue to unfold. Interviews have also been conducted with representatives of patient support organizations and medico‐legal specialists. The material is analyzed using recent sociological theory concerned with trust.FindingsPatients who lodge complaints about their care are interested in achieving moral redress and trust restoration. The major authorities dealing with patient complaints in this case may, however, be mistrusted by those who have experience of them: practitioners and patients alike. In general, they seem to fail to fulfill patients' expectations of guaranteeing ethical standards within healthcare and they are felt to act as a disincentive to honest reporting of adverse incidents by practitioners.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is case specific and the particular findings are not readily generalizable to other countries. However, themes concerned with trust reparation that become evident pose questions about situations elsewhere that are analogous though not identical. Conclusions drawn are, therefore, intended not necessarily to be extrapolated but rather to provoke reflection about similar issues in other cases.Practical implicationsIf practices and healthcare regulation structures are to become increasingly sensitive to patients' experience then it is essential that patients' stories and struggles are aired in those forums that influence decision makers' attitudes. This article attempts to bring patients' rights, expectations and perspectives to the fore in discussion about healthcare quality assurance.Originality/valueBy presenting patients as subject rather than object, the article intends to engage the reader in the patient's quest for moral reparation when trust is breached. The use of anthropological method helps give the perspectives or experience of those who are relatively disempowered their rightful place at the heart of discussions about healthcare quality.
LQAS usefulness in an emergency department
Authors: Granado de la Orden Susana , Rodríguez‐Rieiro Cristina , Sánchez‐Gómez Amaya , Chacón García Ana , Hernández‐Fernández Tomás , Abad Revilla Ángel , Vigil Escribano Dolores , Rodríguez Pérez Paz 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to explore lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) applicability and usefulness in the evaluation of quality indicators in a hospital emergency department (ED) and to determine the degree of compliance with quality standards according to this sampling method.Design/methodology/approachDescriptive observational research in the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón (HGUGM) emergency department (ED). Patients older than 15 years, diagnosed with dyspnoea, chest pain, urinary tract colic or bronchial asthma attending the HGUGM ED from December 2005 to May 2006, and patients admitted during 2005 with exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or acute meningitis were included in the study. Sample sizes were calculated using LQAS. Different quality indicators, one for each process, were selected. The upper (acceptable quality level (AQL)) and lower thresholds (rejectable quality level (RQL)) were established considering risk α=5 per cent and β=20 per cent, and the minimum number of observations required was calculated.FindingsIt was impossible to reach the necessary sample size for bronchial asthma and urinary tract colic patients. For chest pain, acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and acute meningitis, quality problems were detected. The lot was accepted only for the dyspnoea indicator.Originality/valueThe usefulness of LQAS to detect quality problems in the management of health processes in one hospital's ED. The LQAS could complement traditional sampling methods.
The role of expectations in patients' hospital assessments
Authors: Bakar Coskun , Seval Akgün H. , Al Assaf A.F. 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to conduct a preliminary assessment of patient attitudes regarding important aspects of service dimensions using SERVQUAL. Design/methodology/approach – The SERVQUAL scale is routinely used at the Baskent University Hospitals Network, Turkey. The study consisted of 550 randomly chosen patients who presented to any member of the hospital network during January and February 2006 and received treatment as inpatients or outpatients at those healthcare facilities.FindingsThe patients' perceived scores were higher than expected for an ordinary hospital but lower than expected for a high‐quality hospital. Young patients had a high‐expected service score gap and a low adequate service score difference. Highly educated patients had a high‐expected service score difference. Uninsured patients had a low adequate service score difference. Originality/value – Baskent University multidisciplinary healthcare teams have performed periodic patient satisfaction surveys in order to identify strengths and problem areas, formulate the quality improvement objectives and monitor progress towards achieving these objectives. However, patient satisfaction survey results are often highly positive. In these cases, improving care is not easy because measures are not sensitive enough to changes. Therefore a more sensitive measurement tool based on the SERVQUAL scale was developed. The authors believe that patient opinions are extremely important because they provide information that is not necessarily emphasized by managers or health care professionals, resulting in a more complete assessment of past performance and a clearer road map for future action.
Developing a Japanese hospital physician satisfaction scale
Authors: Ozaki Makiko , Bito Seiji , Matsumura Shinji 
Published: August 2008

PurposeHospital physician shortages are widely recognized as a national problem in Japan. Although physician job satisfaction has a relationship with service quality and physician turnover, there is no measure to assess Japanese hospital physician satisfaction. This paper aims to establish a measure of job satisfaction for Japanese hospital physicians and evaluated its psychometric performance.Design/methodology/approachTwo cross‐sectional physician surveys were used – a pilot survey, conducted as a self‐administered questionnaire; and a validation survey conducted on‐line.FindingsA total of 82 hospital physicians completed the pilot questionnaire. Factor and reliability analyses produced a 28‐item, 6‐subscale and 2‐global satisfaction scale measure, the Japan hospital physicians satisfaction scale (JHPSS). Results supported the measure's reliability and validity. For the validation survey, 146 hospital physicians completed the online questionnaire. One question item was substituted following factor analysis. Results also displayed the measure's adequate psychometric properties.Research limitations/implicationsParticipating physicians were convenience samples, which may not fully represent Japanese hospital physicians.Originality/valueThe JHPSS, a brief questionnaire measuring Japanese hospital physician job satisfaction, should be useful for providing better quality care and improving our understanding of and ability to deal with Japanese hospital workforce issues.
Coalitions and community unionism
Authors: Tattersall Amanda 
Published: August 2008

PurposeUnion‐community collaboration is an increasingly common practice in industrialised nations where union power and density have declined. This paper proposes a framework for defining and evaluating community unionism, through a definition of the term “community.”Design/methodology/approachThe author explores this framework drawing on campaigns in Sydney and Chicago.FindingsIt defines the term community in three discrete but mutually reinforcing ways, as (community) organisation; common interest identity, and local neighbourhood or place. The term is used to then define community unionism as three discrete union strategies, and finally to examine one type of community unionism – coalition unionism. Successful coalition practice is defined by partner organisational relationships (coalition structure, bridge brokers, and coalition offices); common concern (common interest operates as mutual direct interest of organisation and members), and the element of scale (where success increases as coalitions operate at multiple scales such as the local, as well as the scale of government and/or business decision makers).Originality/valueThe paper identifies three elements of coalition unionism.
Contested communities: geo‐histories of unionism
Authors: Ellem Bradon 
Published: August 2008

PurposeDespite being increasingly touted as the kind of fundamental transformation needed for union survival, “community unionism” is typically ill‐defined and poorly explained. This paper seeks to provide greater precision of terminology and context through a series of geographically‐informed historical studies.Design/methodology/approachThrough explaining and synthesising the work of a number of scholars from different disciplines, the paper develops a framework for a “geo‐historical” analysis. It begins not with community unionism as such but with a more open exploration of the relationship between unions and social formations at, for the most part, the local scale. Empirical material, based on original qualitative studies, is presented for one industry, Australian mining, across different places and time periods but concentrating most upon the iron ore regions in Western Australia where recent struggles over union renewal and form have been particularly intense.FindingsThis paper argues two things about community unionism: that this union form is not without historical antecedents and, more importantly, that its structure, nature and prospects can be better understood if analysed through a number of concepts which geographers have recently developed to explore the intersections between work, community and employment relations. More needs to be done to explain not only the nature and emergence of community unionism but also the very real problems it faces in sustaining itself, let alone transforming union movements overall. The findings point to the varied forms which so‐called community unionism may take as well as to the challenges to its current forms, including from within the labour movement itself.Originality/valueThe value of the paper lies in its theoretical innovation, drawing on a range of disciplines, and its attempt to situate community unionism precisely – conceptually, historically and geographically.
Having a voice: the quest for democratic policing in Southern Africa
Authors: Marks Monique , Fleming Jenny 
Published: August 2008

PurposeEfforts by police organisations to unionise and to increase their social and labour rights is an international phenomenon, and one that is becoming more vigorous in the Southern African region. However, many governments are wary of police unions and limit their rights, or refuse to recognise them at all. This paper aims to discuss the issues involved.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on face‐to‐face and telephone interviews, as well as e‐mail correspondence, with police unionists from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and the USA.FindingsThe efforts of the unions involved gave impetus to the formation of the International Council of Police Representative Associations (ICPRA), in September 2006. Two of ICPRA's aims are to assist and advise police unions all over the world and to provide the international police union movement with a voice for influencing policing futures. In South Africa, the Police and Civil Rights Unions is assisting police in the subregion and has become a symbol of what is possible for police even in repressive states.Originality/valueThe paper illustrates how, in a rapidly changing police labour environment, police unions have the capacity to confront existing (undemocratic) occupational cultures, to promote organisational accord and to forge positive reform.