Purpose: Health research in the UK is being impeded by a stretched NHS system. The purpose of this paper is to use the Great Fire of Rome as an allegory to understand the difficulties encountered by health researchers when attempting to conduct research within a healthcare system that is...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse ethical competence related to healthcare governance and management tasks at the county/regional level in Sweden. The paper also discusses conditions that support or constrain the development and application of such competence....

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a successful model of shared medical leadership within an academic division of an urban children’s hospital. Design/methodology/approach: Experience and outcomes were tracked over a three-year period during which two physicians shared the role...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed case study of the evaluation strategies of a complex, multi-faceted response to a public health emergency: drug-related overdose deaths. It sets out the challenges of evaluating such a complex response and how they were overcome. It...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between frequent turnover (churn) of the chief executive officer (CEO), quality manager and members of the governing board with the management of quality in eight Australian hospitals. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed method...

Purpose: Despite growing attention to physician engagement there is a lack of literature to guide the development of physician-led interventions. A scoping review was conducted to describe physician-led strategies that have been implemented to promote increased physician engagement in acute...

Purpose: Although there are general methodologies for lean implementation in manufacturing companies, a specific methodology for the implementation of lean healthcare in hospitals has not been addressed by the literature. Addressing this gap, the purpose of this paper is to develop a...

Purpose: Mergers are important and challenging elements in hospital reforms. The authors study the social aspects of management and the roles of middle managers in the aftermath of a hospital merger. Especially, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how professional staff and middle...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to articulate cutting-edge conceptions of the relationship between local processes in the here-and-now, and the broader influences on those processes, that are both organic and overtly designed, and to discern the implications of this relationship for...

Purpose: Hospital length of stay (LOS) is not only a function of patient- and disease-related factors, but is also determined by other health system-wide variables. Managers and clinicians strive to achieve the best possible trade-off between patients’ needs and efficient utilisation of...