Purpose – This qualitative study aims to examine key stakeholders' perspectives of primary care group/trust prescribing strategies. Within the context of general practice prescribing, the paper also debates the wider issue of whether GPs' prescribing autonomy is under threat from managerial...

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether dialogue groups for physicians can improve their psychosocial work environment. Design/methodology/approach – The study assessed the impact of eight dialogue groups, which involved 60 physicians at a children's clinic in one of the...

Purpose – Many approaches on the economic aspect of hospital acquired infections (HAIs) have two major limitations: first, the lack of distinction between resources attributable to the management of HAI and resources absorbed by the main clinical problem for which the patient was hospitalized,...

Purpose – Cancelled operations are a major drain on health resources: 8 per cent of scheduled elective operations are cancelled nationally, within 24 hours of surgery. The aim of this study is to define the extent of this problem in one Trust, and suggest strategies to reduce the cancellation...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact that research governance processes in the National Health Service (NHS) are having on the conduct of research that involves a national survey and to point to ways that existing processes may develop to facilitate such research....

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the processes influencing the nature of the relationship between hospital medical and nursing staff. Design/methodology/approach – Posits the question “how far has this relationship come?” since the influential Briggs Report of the 1970s...

Purpose – Increased levels of hostility are associated with the increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD), and with poorer outcomes in CAD patients. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the level of hostility in CAD patients and in health care (HC) workers, as potential groups for...

Purpose – The main intension of this paper is to challenge the dominance of emotional labour in professional nursing. Design/methodology/approach – The article begins by evaluating the central conceptual and definitional aspects of emotional labour, emotion work and emotional work. The...