The Effect of Hospitalists on Average Length of Stay.

Hospitals experiencing financial pressures are seeking to gain efficiencies through innovation. One solution is to engage hospitalists to help reduce the average length of stay (ALOS). This study considers whether and to what extent hospitalists affect ALOS and whether an association exists between the number of hospitalists per occupied bed (density) and ALOS.

Improving the use of competencies in public health education.

Competency-based education is the present and future of public health education. As programs have adopted competencies, many have struggled and continue to struggle with actual implementation and curricular redesign. We experienced these problems at The University of Oklahoma College of Public Health; thus, we propose an adaptable and replicable process to better implement competencies and evaluate student mastery of them throughout any public health program.

Predictors of hospital CEO affiliation with a professional association.

Based on a 2008 cross-sectional survey of 582 hospital CEOs in the United States, this study reports the findings of two logistic regression models designed to identify CEO and hospital characteristics associated with Member and Fellow status in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). The purpose of the study was to understand the personal and organizational characteristics of those CEOs who choose to be Members and Fellows of a professional association such as ACHE. The results showed that most (74 percent) of the respondents considered ACHE to be their primary professional association.

Factors affecting nurses' perceptions of patient safety.

Purpose: Nurses heavily influence patient care quality and safety. This paper aims to examine socioeconomic and organizational/system factors affecting patient safety and quality perceptions.

Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was constructed to gather demographic, managerial support, information technology implementation and integration information.

Factors affecting the value of professional association affiliation.

Background: The resource-based view of the firm suggests that organizations must obtain valuable resources from external sources to obtain lasting benefits. Professional associations today exist in every industry and offer resources to assist their affiliates' organizations and individual members. Today, there are more than 23,000 national and 64,000 state, local, and regional professional associations that claim to significantly benefit their affiliates.

Factors affecting the continuing education of hospital CEOs and their senior managers.

This article examines the influences on executives' continuing education in hospitals. It uses data from a national survey on professional development conducted in 2009 by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) to explore how organizational and individual characteristics are related to the amount of continuing education (CE) taken by chief executive officers (CEOs) and the commitment to CE by their senior managers. Our findings suggest that the organizational characteristics of ownership, size, and region and the individual characteristics of gender, professional affiliation, and the focus of CE may influence how much CE CEOs take.

Hospital chief executive officer perspective on professional development activities.

A study was undertaken to develop understanding of hospital chief executive officers' (CEOs') perspectives concerning importance and impact of professional development activities in US hospitals. It was also intended to reveal CEO preferences for various modalities of professional development including membership in professional societies, attainment of credentials, and coaching by mentors. A mail survey of 582 hospital CEOs made use of a pilot-tested questionnaire with 30 close ended multipart questions.

The impact of information technology and organizational focus on the visibility of patient care errors.

Unlabelled: INVESTIGATED: The implementation of information systems and the creation of an open culture, characterized by emphasis on patient safety and problem solving, are 2 means suggested to improve health care quality. This study examines the effects of use of information technology and focus on patient safety and problem solving on the visibility of patient care errors.

Subjects And Methods: A survey of nurses in Saudi Arabia is analyzed by means of factor analysis and multiregression analysis to examine nurses' use of information technology and culture in controlling errors.

Factors affecting the climate of hospital patient safety: a study of hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe three organizational dimensions that influence hospital patient safety climate, also showing and discussing differences between organizational types.

Design/methodology/approach: Surveys were conducted in four types of Saudi Arabian hospitals. Resultant information was analyzed using factor analysis and multiple-regression.

Incoming and outgoing hospital CEOs: what kind of help do they want?

CEO turnover, although common, is expensive and disruptive for everyone involved. Both incoming and outgoing CEOs would welcome help in making the transition a painless experience. Through a 2005 nationwide survey of 805 current hospital CEOs, the authors obtained comments and suggestions in response to three open-ended questions about specific activities or processes that would help incoming and outgoing CEOs.

Is chief executive officer turnover good for the hospital?

This study examined the general characteristics of chief executive officers (CEOs) and their hospitals and the perceived impact of CEO turnover on various organizational activities. A mail-based survey included 156 hospital CEOs in 6 states in the West South Central, West North Central, and Mountain regions. Neither hospital and CEO characteristics nor the impact on various organizational activities and performance indicators was significantly different among the 6 states compared.

Which hospitals give discounts? The role of institutional and environmental factors.

Offering discounts on list prices in exchange for a large volume of business is a common practice in the healthcare industry. However, little is known about the characteristics of hospitals that engage in this practice or about the circumstances that promote this strategy. On the basis of data from the American Hospital Association and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the authors reveal that hospital size, Medicare patient volume, net income, medical school affiliation, location in a metropolitan statistical area, and hospital system membership are factors positively linked with the amount of discounts provided by hospitals to third-party payers.

Perceptions of hospital CEOs about the effects of CEO turnover.

Empirical evidence is scarce on chief executive officer (CEO) turnover in U.S. hospitals, with potentially serious implications for many of these organizations.

Healthcare restructuring and hierarchical alignment: why do staff and managers perceive change outcomes differently?

Purpose: Healthcare organizations have undergone major change efforts in the past decade. Sustained change is related to continued alignment among organizational participants and may fail with incongruent perceptions of change. This study identifies factors contributing to the alignment in perceptions of organizational change outcomes between executives and all other employees.

Improving hospital restructuring: lessons learned.

Many health care organizations struggle to implement restructuring efforts that produce positive results. This article presents specific ways that restructuring can be improved and what causes such efforts to derail.