Toward a Theory of Organizational DNA: Routines, Principles, and Beliefs (RPBs) for Successful and Sustainable Organizational Change.

Organizational change is a key mechanism to ensure the sustainability of healthcare systems. However, healthcare organizations are persistently difficult to change, and literature is riddled with examples of failed change endeavors. In this chapter, we attempt to unravel the underlying causes for failed organizational change.

Buffer management to solve bed-blocking in the Netherlands 2000-2010. Cooperation from an integrated care chain perspective as a key success factor for managing patient flows.

Introduction: Bed-blocking problems in hospitals reflect how difficult and complex it is to move patients smoothly through the chain of care. In the Netherlands, during the first decade of the 21st century, some hospitals attempted to tackle this problem by using an Intermediate Care Department (ICD) as a buffer for bed-blockers. However, research has shown that ICDs do not sufficiently solve the bed-blocking problem and that bed-blocking is often caused by a lack of buffer management.

Diagnosis of sustainable collaboration in health promotion - a case study.

Background: Collaborations are important to health promotion in addressing multi-party problems. Interest in collaborative processes in health promotion is rising, but still lacks monitoring instruments. The authors developed the DIagnosis of Sustainable Collaboration (DISC) model to enable comprehensive monitoring of public health collaboratives.

Comparing integrated care policy in Europe: does policy matter?

This paper addresses the interplay between integrated care policies and integrated care development in various national contexts. It is based on a secondary analysis of six country reports, written by scientists with expert knowledge on integrated care policies and practices in their respective countries. The country reports are structured according to the same descriptive framework, which includes characteristics of the national health systems, integrated care target groups and providers, coordinating mechanisms and promoting and inhibiting factors.

Comprehensive quality assessment of healthy school interventions.

Objectives: The number of healthy school interventions of unknown quality overwhelms schools. Quality is a construct that is differently interpreted by teachers and health promoters. The schoolBeat checklist for quality assessment of healthy school interventions incorporates the quality perceptions of both professional groups.

Why do health and social care providers co-operate?

Within Europe, although there are numerous examples of poor co-ordination in the delivery of integrated care, many providers do co-operate. We wanted to know why providers are moved to co-operate. In terms of systematic research, this is a new field; researchers have only begun to theorise about the rationales for co-operation.

Development of a collaborative model to improve school health promotion in The Netherlands.

In recent decades, school health promotion programs have been developing into whole-school health approaches. This has been accompanied by a greater understanding among health promoters of the core-business of schools, namely education, and how health promotion objectives can be integrated into this task. Evidence of the positive impact of school health promotion on health risk behavior of students is increasing.

Nurse-led shared care diabetes projects: lessons from the nurses' viewpoint.

This paper explores the experiences of four nurse practitioners specialised in diabetes care, in the development and implementation of two Dutch nurse-led shared care projects to improve quality of care. The focus is on the impeding factors involved. The nurses' views are compared to those of the 38 participating physicians by using instruments of qualitative research.

Development of integrated care in England and the Netherlands: managing across public-private boundaries.

This paper addresses the impact of the public-private mix in the Dutch and English health and social care systems on the development and delivery of integrated care. Integrated care is conceived of as an organisational process of coordination which seeks to achieve seamless and continuous care, tailored to the patients' needs and based on a holistic view of the patient. We describe both systems' structures and characteristics from a historical perspective, which means that developments and processes within the systems are put in the spotlight.

Market competition: everybody is talking, but what do they say?. A sociological analysis of market competition in policy networks.

From providers and insurers to governments and consumers, it appears that everybody is talking about market competition in health care. However, what do they actually mean? Are they talking about the same things? These questions are relevant for health systems consisting of policy networks, such as in the Netherlands. In policy networks, different actors (besides the government) are engaged in policy-making.

Patient focus groups about nurse-led shared care for the chronically ill.

Traditional care offered to chronically ill people does not succeed in bridging the gap between primary and secondary care in a way that suits chronic patients' needs. So-called nurse-led shared care may offer a solution, in which a specialised nurse practitioner plays a co-ordinating role at patient level. In this article two nurse-led shared care models for patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are looked upon through the patient's eye.