Does the engagement of clinicians and organisations in research improve healthcare performance: a three-stage review

Objective: There is a widely held assumption that engagement by clinicians and healthcare organisations in research improves healthcare performance at various levels, but little direct empirical evidence has previously been collated. The objective of this study was to address the question: Does research engagement (by clinicians and organizations) improve healthcare performance? Methods: An hourglass-shaped review was developed, consisting of three stages: (1) a planning and mapping stage; (2) a focused review concentrating on the core question of whether or not research engagement improves healthcare performance; and (3) a wider (but less systematic) review of papers identified during the two earlier stages, focusing on mechanisms. Results: Of the 33 papers included in the focused review, 28 identified improvements in health services performance. Seven out of these papers reported some improvement in health outcomes, with others reporting improved processes of care. The wider review demonstrated that mechanisms such as collaborative and action research can encourage some progress along the pathway from research engagement towards improved healthcare performance. Organisations that have deliberately integrated the research function into organisational structures demonstrate how research engagement can, among other factors, contribute to improved healthcare performance. Conclusions: Current evidence suggests that there is an association between the engagement of individuals and healthcare organisations in research and improvements in healthcare performance. The mechanisms through which research engagement might improve healthcare performance overlap and rarely act in isolation, and their effectiveness often depends on the context in which they operate. Strengths and limitations of this study • This review brings together for the first time a diverse body of literature addressing whether engaging clinicians and healthcare organisations in research is the likely to improve healthcare performance • It also explores the mechanisms through which improvement is achieved to try and understand how any improvements might come about • However, it relies on the quality and coverage of the existing literature • It is an extremely complex topic, but nonetheless one worthy of further exploration, particularly given the pressure to justify research spending in healthcare systems, and to encourage its implementation.UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO) programme ( project number HS&DR- 10/1012/09

Innovation in Primary Healthcare: can it improve health sector productivity and health outcomes?

Health systems everywhere are facing significant challenges – demand pressures from an ageing population, a rise in chronic health conditions, and greater community expectations as more new health treatments are developed. There are three possible responses to this: increasing health funding (increasing inputs), rationing health services (restricting outputs) or increasing productivity through innovation (doing things differently and more efficiently). This article looks at innovation in New Zealand’s primary healthcare sector and recent attempts to measure its impact across the health system

Setting priorities for EU healthcare workforce IT skills competence improvement

A major challenge for healthcare quality improvement is the lack of IT skills and knowledge of healthcare workforce as well as their ambivalent attitudes towards IT. This paper identifies and prioritises actions needed to improve the IT skills of healthcare workforce across the EU. 46 experts, representing different fields of expertise in healthcare and geolocations systematically list and scored actions that would improve IT skills among healthcare workforce. The Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative methodology was used for research priority-setting. The participants evaluated the actions using the following criteria: feasibility, effectiveness, deliverability, and maximum impact on IT skills improvement. The leading priority actions were related to appropriate training, integrating eHealth in curricula, involving healthcare workforce in the eHealth solution development, improving awareness of eHealth and learning arrangement. As the different professionals’ needs are prioritised, healthcare workforce should be actively and continuously included in the development of eHealth solutions

Tamiah N. McCoy - African American Women’s Birth Stories as Told To African American Women Interviewers

Background: A woman’s birth story allows each woman to tell her own perspectives about her experience of bringing a child into the world. As healthcare providers, it is always important to value listening to and learning from our clients. Researchers systematically analyzing birth stories can yield insights on ways to improve birthing experiences for women. This is especially important for African American women, who differentially encounter the most numerous health disparities of any racial group, with twice as much infant mortality than other groups. Purpose: This study examined birth stories of African American women in order to gain insights from them to better meet their needs. In this way, healthcare providers may learn strategies to address health disparities. Methods: A secondary analysis of five African American birth stories was conducted. Findings: Three themes were identified from the women’s stories: (a) desire for continuous labor support, (b) preference for certain characteristics of healthcare providers (such as gender and race), and (c) reliance on spirituality for coping. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of listening to and learning from women. Clinical Relevance: Healthcare providers can likely improve the care of their patients by incorporating these themes into their methods of care. Understanding and taking action towards the unsaid needs of African American women experiencing childbirth can ultimately help health disparities get addressed.https://epublications.marquette.edu/mcnair_2013/1014/thumbnail.jp

Summary of Research: Collaboration Between Healthcare Professionals and People with Multiple Sclerosis to Develop Communication Tools to Improve the Standard of Multiple Sclerosis Care

: This is a summary of a previously published paper: Joint Healthcare Professional and Patient Development of Communication Tools to Improve the Standard of MS Care. It describes a collaboration between people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) and healthcare professionals (HCPs) to identify challenges in multiple sclerosis (MS) care and design tools to improve communication during consultations

A co-occurrence framework conceptualized for bridging the gap between basic science, clinical research and clinical practices

The intellectual impulsiveness of man to understand the unknown and the continual need of the society to improve healthcare have encouraged extensive investigation on numerous and diverse cause-and-effect relationships. The nature of this endeavor, however, renders the inability of investigator at all levels to escape beyond the narrow conceptual boundary described by an early French philosopher as the vicious cycle. To enjoy the theoretically plausible benefits of refined labor division, data-driven healthcare management, and real-time evidence-based practices, it must first be acknowledged that co-occurrence is better than cause-and-effect in explaining how an observation takes place at a particular time. This paper details a co-occurrence framework, and discusses its implications for the global healthcare system

Technology in Healthcare: How Artificial Intelligence Will Revolutionize the Profession

The topic of artificial intelligence is a hot topic in the U.S. healthcare system and despite some uncertainties, continues to be increasingly integrated into healthcare delivery. Artificial intelligence can be used for different purposes including but not limited to data storage, decision making and image analysis. Critics of artificial intelligence in healthcare are skeptical of its ability to provide security of medical information and afraid that it will eventually replace the need for human healthcare workers. Although the critics skepticisms seem rational, further research of artificial intelligence in healthcare shows that those fears are not based on fact. Artificial intelligence in healthcare has been proven to reduce healthcare expenditures, increase access and improve quality of care and overall health outcomes. It is important for future healthcare providers to increase familiarity with artificial intelligence in order to effectively integrate it into practice to improve the health and well-being of future clients

Preventative Healthcare Programs

The healthcare system in the United States is struggling with excessive costs and disproportionate quality measures. While the U.S. spends the most on healthcare in the world, the quality of the healthcare is not reflected in this cost. With excessive spending being the strategy to improve quality in the past, new strategies need to be implemented to improve quality as increased spending is not raising this statistic. One factor that can improve quality and reduce costs is the introduction and utilization of preventative healthcare programs. These programs are built to keep at-risk populations from developing serious, permanent diseases that deplete resources and increase the cost of health insurance for the population. The implementation and development of these preventative healthcare programs encourages the population to maintain better health practices and reduces the need for repetitive consumption of healthcare by consumers. By compiling data showing the beneficial effects of these programs and their effects at the state level, it will become clear that lowering costs and improving quality of healthcare by utilizing preventative healthcare programs will benefit the healthcare system

Information management in healthcare organizations

The health care industry is currently experiencing numerous fundamental changes. Healthcare organizations (HCOs) are increasingly challenged to look at their operations and find new opportunities to reorganize their processes, in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their services, reduce costs, be more competitive, and also provide high quality and more personalized patient care. This new business strategy requires HCOs to implement new Information and Communication Technologies, such as Internet applications, enterprise information systems, and mobile technologies, in order to achieve their desired business changes and results, mainly through better information management methods and techniques. Based on these perspectives, this article aims to initially define and discuss the key challenges and opportunities for promoting high quality and cost effective care in HCOs. It describes the fundamental and important aspects of information management, as well as the technology drivers that aim to improve the generation and flow of health information within HCOs.information technologies, management, healthcare organizations

Necessity of Analytics in Today’s Healthcare Revenue Cycle

Because of the recently growing pressures to improve quality and reduce costs, healthcare organizations are rapidly adopting IT in order to improve their operations and clinical care. As a result, an accumulation of vast amounts of data are becoming available for use. It is important for healthcare to use this data. Strome (2010) states that healthcare analytics is the application of statistical tools and techniques to healthcare-related data in order to study past situations (i.e., operational performance or clinical outcomes) to improve the quality and efficiency of clinical and business processes and performance. With the introduction of healthcare analytical tools, can the healthcare industry take its huge and exponentially growing amounts of data and learn from it? The purpose of this paper is to review the available literature on the use of analytical tools in the healthcare industry with a focus on the revenue cycle. Most literature available to be reviewed is centered around discussions and theories on the use of analytical tools in the industry. A survey of revenue cycle leaders was conducted to determine the prevalence and importance of analytical tools in conjunction with the revenue cycle. This information will be valuable to revenue cycle leaders in determining if others in the industry are adopting these tools and the potential benefits of using analytical tools in their own departments