Interorganizational Collaboration in Transitional Care - A Study of a Post-Discharge Programme for Elderly Patients.

Introduction And Aim: This article reports a study of a post-discharge programme for elderly patients in Norway. It took place in an intermediate ward for transitional care and was based on collaboration between a municipality and a hospital, which was part of a health enterprise. The aim of the study was to analyse the collaboration and its possible effects on the quality of patient care, and the economic efficiency of the project for the organizations involved.

Great expectations - introduction of flow managers in a university hospital.

A major reorganization of a university hospital included the clinical structure as well as the administrative structure of the hospital. The focus of the reorganization was to improve the coordination of patient flows through the hospital. An important part of the organizational change was the introduction of flow managers.

Organizing integrated care in a university hospital: application of a conceptual framework.

Background And Aim: As a result of New Public Management, a number of industrial models of quality management have been implemented in health care, mainly in hospitals. At the same time, the concept of integrated care has been developed within other parts of the health sector. The aim of the article is to discuss the relevance of integrated care for hospitals.

Quality, efficiency and integrity: value squeezes in management of hospital wards.

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore and describe the value squeezes experienced by ward managers in connection with quality management in hospital wards. The study focused on integrity pressure and coping strategies to deal with such pressure.

Background: Nurses in the role of ward managers have a key function in the field of quality improvement.

Actor or arena: contrasting translations of a law on interorganizational integration.

Purpose: A Swedish framework law has enabled integration between public agencies in vocational rehabilitation. With the support of this law, coordination associations can be formed to fund and organize joint activities. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how the law has been interpreted and translated into local coordination associations and how local institutional logics have developed to guide the organization of these associations.

Health-promoting collaboration in anesthesia nursing: a qualitative study of nurse anesthetists in Norway.

Perceived stress of nurse anesthetists and their work environment has been the focus of several previous studies. This article presents a study of different factors that may contribute positively or negatively to the work environment of nurse anesthetists in Norway. It focuses on factors that nurse anesthetists perceive as health promoting at work and indicates how a healthy work environment can be created.

Organizational approaches to collaboration in vocational rehabilitation-an international literature review.

Introduction: Collaboration between welfare organizations is an important strategy for integrating different health and welfare services. This article reports a review of the international literature on vocational rehabilitation, focusing on different organizational models of collaboration as well as different barriers and facilitating factors.

Methods: The review was based on an extensive search in scientific journals from 1995 to 2010, which generated more than 13,000 articles.

Health promoting leadership - different views of the concept.

Objective: To describe and analyse different views of health promoting leadership among actors involved in workplace health promotion in eight Swedish municipalities.

Methods: Twenty individuals were interviewed and their views were analysed according to the methodology of phenomenograpic research, exploring how health promoting leadership was described, what motives were expressed, and what critical conditions were perceived for developing such leadership.

Results: The informants described health promoting leadership in three ways: organising health promoting activities, having a supportive leadership style, and developing a health promoting workplace.

From territoriality to altruism in interprofessional collaboration and leadership.

Interprofessional collaboration has become more and more necessary in health and social care, mainly because of the increasing specialization of services and the increasing professionalization of different occupational groups. Most interprofessional collaboration is at the same time also interorganizational and it is taking place within a complicated structure, where collaborative teamwork is combined with hierarchical co-ordination and control in a sort of matrix organization. Based on the literature on organization, leadership and collaboration, this paper discusses territorial behaviour among professional groups and agencies as a difficult barrier to interprofessional collaboration.

Evaluating intersectoral collaboration: a model for assessment by service users.

Introduction: DELTA was launched as a project in 1997 to improve intersectoral collaboration in the rehabilitation field. In 2005 DELTA was transformed into a local association for financial co-ordination between the institutions involved. Based on a study of the DELTA service users, the purpose of this article is to develop and to validate a model that can be used to assess the integration of welfare services from the perspective of the service users.

Integration and collaboration in public health--a conceptual framework.

With the increasing differentiation of organisations involved in the pursuit of public health, there is also a growing need for inter-organisational integration. Starting from the concepts of differentiation and integration, this article is attempting a theoretical reconstruction based on published research on inter-organisational integration in public health and related welfare services. Different forms of integration are defined and related to each other in a conceptual framework, which is in itself an integration of different theoretical perspectives.

Intersectoral problems in the Russian organisation of public health.

In spite of the ongoing transition of the Russian society, there is still a traditional view of public health, which is based to a great extent on the ideals and priorities of the Soviet period. Public health activities are regarded mainly as a responsibility of the health sector. There are, however, important public health activities going on also in other sectors of the society, for example, in the educational sector and the local communities, but also in the social insurance system.

The factors associated to psychosocial stress among general practitioners in Lithuania. Cross-sectional study.

Background: There are number of studies showing that general practice is one of the most stressful workplace among health care workers. Since Baltic States regained independence in 1990, the reform of the health care system took place in which new role and more responsibilities were allocated to general practitioners' in Lithuania. This study aimed to explore the psychosocial stress level among Lithuanian general practitioner's and examine the relationship between psychosocial stress and work characteristics.

Interaction among general practitioners age and patient load in the prediction of job strain, decision latitude and perception of job demands. A cross-sectional study.

Background: It is widely recognized and accepted that job strain adversely impacts the workforce. Individual responses to stressful situations can vary greatly and it has been shown that certain people are more likely to experience high levels of stress in their job than others. Studies highlighted that there can be age differences in job strain perception.

Do age, gender and marital status influence job strain development for general practitioner?

Background: General practice is one of the most stressful workplaces among health care workers and is characterized by higher rates of job strain than in reference population. We need to take into account that respondents are influenced by quite similar working conditions and health status differently. Thus this article aimed to review the subjective processes, which make general practitioners more vulnerable to the job strain.

The role and effects of sanatoriums and health resorts in the Russian Federation.

There is a unique system of sanatoriums and health resorts in the Russian Federation that is not so well known outside the country. These facilities are used for prophylactic treatment of the working population, but they are not part of the health care system. As a result of the historical development, the sanatoriums and health resorts are instead a responsibility of the Russian system of social insurance.