Literature Week 1 HSOM
Vissers, J. & Beech, R. (2005) Health Operations Management. Patient flow
logistics in health care.
Chapter 1
(Health) Operations management: the planning and control of the processes that transform
inputs into outputs. E.g. input could be a patient coming into consultation with a request for
health care. Output of the consultation process might be a diagnosis, referral or cure. The
resources needed to transform input into output could be the care provided by a doctor
(their time, services they use).
Health OM focuses on the individual provider that produces a health service and on the
tasks involved to produce this service.
Bowers, M.R., Swan J.E., Koehler, W.F. (1994) What attributes determine
quality and satisfaction with health care delivery? Health Care Manage
Rev, 19(4), pp. 49-55
(Dis)satisfaction with quality of employees or members of the insurance pools will influence
the decisions purchasers of hc make. Consumer choice is based on their perception of
quality of delivered care (because they cannot use different, more technical ways of
assessing care), which is an important determinant of providers’ success and survival.
Quality concerns also shape which hc organisations are invited to join health system
networks.
When managers know what determinants influence consumer perception of quality, they
can take steps to monitor and improve performance on these points. This will in turn affect
financial performance and important competitive advantage.
SERVQUAL (services quality research stream): attributes that define service quality and
satisfaction:
- Tangibles: physical facilities, equipment, appearance of personnel
- Reliability: ability to perform the promised service accurately and dependably
- Responsiveness: willingness to help customers and provide prompt services
- Assurance: knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust
and confidence (competence, courtesy, communication, credibility, security)
- Empathy: caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers (access,
understanding the customer).
This is more about delivery of care, not the technical competence of providers of the care.
But, SERVQUAL might not cover all dimensions of hc services that are deemed important by
patients.
In order to manage consumer perceptions of quality of care, administrates should focus on
the human components of delivery. Steps:
1
, - Determining specific attributes of quality employed by each institution’s customers
to judge quality and attempt to prioritize these attributes.
- Establishing a means by which these attributes may be measured.
- Developing operational definitions and specifying levels of appropriate performance.
- Incorporating the delivery of quality dimensions into job descriptions, evaluations,
and compensation structures.
- Managing customer expectations concerning level of performance. Communication
is an important determinant of health care quality.
Horvath, I. (2007) Comparison of three methodological approaches of
design research.
Design research = means both an evolving human agency reflected by all design disciplines,
and a way of thinking and acting undertaken within a set of philosophies and a framework
of methodologies. Systematic investigations through observation and reasoning. Dual goal:
providing explanations to phenomena, and also providing tools and methods for problem
solving.
Design research is specific, because it: (i) focuses on both the discipline of design and the
practice of design concurrently, (ii) synthesizes knowledge from many sources, but it also
generates knowledge on its own, (iii) constructs its own understanding of the world by
interpreting phenomena in design context, and (iv) creates mental models that correspond
to both scientific inquiry and subjective experiences.
It is widely accepted that the only objective of fundamental research is advancement of
knowledge. It is driven by the researcher’s curiosity, interest or hunch, and is conducted
without having any practical end in mind. Design research is somewhat closer to applied
research than to fundamental research.
The major professional and societal issue is not the development of technologies anymore,
but the proper selection and use of technologies. Combined with the need for shortening
the time of transferring and utilization of scientific knowledge for solving societal and
economic issues, this entails a different thinking about the classical unidirectional
knowledge transfer, as well as about the nature of design research.
Design research plays and will even be playing a stronger role as the engine of a socially-
sensitive knowledge transfer between fundamental sciences and industrial product
realization, and a mediator of translating research findings to design actions.
Scientific research produces knowledge and means for industrial product design, and the
latter formulates the purpose and context of research. In this loop, fundamental research
remains the source of basic knowledge, and design research synthesizes and contextualises
the knowledge of applied sciences. Additionally, design research extends scientific
knowledge with genuine design knowledge.
2
Vissers, J. & Beech, R. (2005) Health Operations Management. Patient flow
logistics in health care.
Chapter 1
(Health) Operations management: the planning and control of the processes that transform
inputs into outputs. E.g. input could be a patient coming into consultation with a request for
health care. Output of the consultation process might be a diagnosis, referral or cure. The
resources needed to transform input into output could be the care provided by a doctor
(their time, services they use).
Health OM focuses on the individual provider that produces a health service and on the
tasks involved to produce this service.
Bowers, M.R., Swan J.E., Koehler, W.F. (1994) What attributes determine
quality and satisfaction with health care delivery? Health Care Manage
Rev, 19(4), pp. 49-55
(Dis)satisfaction with quality of employees or members of the insurance pools will influence
the decisions purchasers of hc make. Consumer choice is based on their perception of
quality of delivered care (because they cannot use different, more technical ways of
assessing care), which is an important determinant of providers’ success and survival.
Quality concerns also shape which hc organisations are invited to join health system
networks.
When managers know what determinants influence consumer perception of quality, they
can take steps to monitor and improve performance on these points. This will in turn affect
financial performance and important competitive advantage.
SERVQUAL (services quality research stream): attributes that define service quality and
satisfaction:
- Tangibles: physical facilities, equipment, appearance of personnel
- Reliability: ability to perform the promised service accurately and dependably
- Responsiveness: willingness to help customers and provide prompt services
- Assurance: knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust
and confidence (competence, courtesy, communication, credibility, security)
- Empathy: caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers (access,
understanding the customer).
This is more about delivery of care, not the technical competence of providers of the care.
But, SERVQUAL might not cover all dimensions of hc services that are deemed important by
patients.
In order to manage consumer perceptions of quality of care, administrates should focus on
the human components of delivery. Steps:
1
, - Determining specific attributes of quality employed by each institution’s customers
to judge quality and attempt to prioritize these attributes.
- Establishing a means by which these attributes may be measured.
- Developing operational definitions and specifying levels of appropriate performance.
- Incorporating the delivery of quality dimensions into job descriptions, evaluations,
and compensation structures.
- Managing customer expectations concerning level of performance. Communication
is an important determinant of health care quality.
Horvath, I. (2007) Comparison of three methodological approaches of
design research.
Design research = means both an evolving human agency reflected by all design disciplines,
and a way of thinking and acting undertaken within a set of philosophies and a framework
of methodologies. Systematic investigations through observation and reasoning. Dual goal:
providing explanations to phenomena, and also providing tools and methods for problem
solving.
Design research is specific, because it: (i) focuses on both the discipline of design and the
practice of design concurrently, (ii) synthesizes knowledge from many sources, but it also
generates knowledge on its own, (iii) constructs its own understanding of the world by
interpreting phenomena in design context, and (iv) creates mental models that correspond
to both scientific inquiry and subjective experiences.
It is widely accepted that the only objective of fundamental research is advancement of
knowledge. It is driven by the researcher’s curiosity, interest or hunch, and is conducted
without having any practical end in mind. Design research is somewhat closer to applied
research than to fundamental research.
The major professional and societal issue is not the development of technologies anymore,
but the proper selection and use of technologies. Combined with the need for shortening
the time of transferring and utilization of scientific knowledge for solving societal and
economic issues, this entails a different thinking about the classical unidirectional
knowledge transfer, as well as about the nature of design research.
Design research plays and will even be playing a stronger role as the engine of a socially-
sensitive knowledge transfer between fundamental sciences and industrial product
realization, and a mediator of translating research findings to design actions.
Scientific research produces knowledge and means for industrial product design, and the
latter formulates the purpose and context of research. In this loop, fundamental research
remains the source of basic knowledge, and design research synthesizes and contextualises
the knowledge of applied sciences. Additionally, design research extends scientific
knowledge with genuine design knowledge.
2
