Senior Healthcare Professionals Research Articles

Role and Work Style of the Manager Nurses for Successful Conflict Management in the Hospital

INTRODUCTION: The health care management in hospitals is assigned to the members of the Health Care Council - the chief nurse and the senior nurses. These managers, supported by their high level of professionalism, skills and knowledge, can lead the planning, organization, coordination, motivation, evaluation and control of the activities of the health care professionals. The effective management of emerging conflicts depends on the position, style and approach of the chief nurse and senior nurses. AIM: To establish how the roles of the management staff in the Health Care Council influence the team performance, including the successful management in hospital wards. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in the period April 2015 - February 2016 at the Hristo Botev Hospital, Vratsa using the Belbin psychometric test. STUDY SUBJECTS: Twenty-five senior health care professionals and the chief nurse. The study used a sociological method of analysis. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: One of the great benefits of the HCC teamwork is in the fact that the people complement each other and everyone contributes with what he/she can do best. According to the Belbin psychometric test the eight team roles accurately describe the specific work adjustments and behaviors of people in the HCC team. ROLES IN THE AUDIT TEAM: Strong roles: Teamworker, Coordinator, Completer Finisher Weak roles: Resource Investigator and Plant Missing representatives of strong roles in the team: Resource Investigator Category of the team: Rather a good team Problematic areas for team performance: Generating new ideas Leadership: Not successful enough RECOMMENDATIONS: One of the recommendations is effective recruitment of management staff in the HCC. In order to prevent conflicts, the leader should recognize the personality type of each associate and use that knowledge to motivate them to give the best of themselves.

Effects of donor HIV/AIDS funding on primary healthcare delivery in southwest Nigeria: Evidence from hospital administrators

Objectives: The global spread of the HIV epidemic has spurred dramatic increase in HIV/AIDS funding across the developing world. Over the last decade, this has resulted in large influx of funds to developing countries like Nigeria. This qualitative research explores the effect of a decade of donor HIV/AIDS funding on health services in southwest Nigeria, through the experiences of hospital administrators.Method: Twelve senior healthcare professionals participated in the study. Facilities running HIV/AIDS funded program in both rural and urban communities were selected for the study. Data collection was via in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Transcription of data was done by professional service and data analysis was aided with the use of QSR Nvivo 10.Findings: The findings from this qualitative research were grouped under four major themes: Difference in program experience, HIV program has changed how we work, HIV programs affect personnel availability, and HIV programs have promoted professional development.Conclusion: The findings from this study support previous contention that HIV/AIDS funding improves professional development, contributes toward infrastructural upgrade, and improves the quality and coverage of HIV services. In addition, however, this study raises further questions about the worrying discriminatory nature of program incentives, increasing workload without commensurate incentives, provision of laboratory equipment, and support for infrastructural upgrades. These are hitherto unreported effects of HIV programs on health services that need to be further explored for their impacts on primary healthcare delivery in beneficiary countries and design of potential strategies to confront the challenges to ensure a more positive program experience.

Enhancing generational change in patient safety attitudes through peer leadership

BackgroundDespite peer-led teaching demonstrating benefits in patient safety education, few studies have evaluated these programmes from the perspective of peer leaders.ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of peer leader participation in a...

International recommendations for national patient safety incident reporting systems: an expert Delphi consensus-building process

BackgroundPatient safety incident reporting systems (PSRS) have been established for over a decade, but uncertainty remains regarding the role that they can and ought to play in quantifying healthcare-related harm...

Validation of a survey tool to assess the patient safety attitudes of pharmacy students

ObjectivePatient safety education is a key strategy to minimise harm, and is increasingly being introduced into junior pharmacy curricula. However, currently there is no valid and reliable survey tool to...

Markets, mergers and mixed messages

Choice has become the defining characteristic of service users' relationship with the NHS in England. Decades of market-orientated policy have encouraged greater customer focus, and the NHS is now subject to the same consumer drivers that can be identified elsewhere in society. Competition between service providers is intended to encourage improvements in efficiency and ensure services are more responsive to users' needs. In 2013, the Competition Commission intervened for the first time in the English NHS to prevent a merger between two hospital trusts on the basis that it would damage patients' interests by eliminating competition and choice. At the same time, senior healthcare professionals and managers are warning that hospital closures are essential if the NHS is to continue to offer high quality care to all. This article examines whether market principles encourage or deter the equitable provision of hospital services in England as consumer rights are increasingly upheld in law. It also considers the difficulties of persuading service users that service reconfiguration will be of benefit having been promised greater choice and personalisation of care.

Markets, mergers and mixed messages

Choice has become the defining characteristic of service users’ relationship with the NHS in England. Decades of market-orientated policy have encouraged greater customer focus, and the NHS is now subject to the same consumer drivers that can be identified elsewhere in society. Competition between service providers is intended to encourage improvements in efficiency and ensure services are more responsive to users’ needs. In 2013, the Competition Commission intervened for the first time in the English NHS to prevent a merger between two hospital trusts on the basis that it would damage patients’ interests by eliminating competition and choice. At the same time, senior healthcare professionals and managers are warning that hospital closures are essential if the NHS is to continue to offer high quality care to all. This article examines whether market principles encourage or deter the equitable provision of hospital services in England as consumer rights are increasingly upheld in law. It also considers the difficulties of persuading service users that service reconfiguration will be of benefit having been promised greater choice and personalisation of care.

Designing an interprofessional training program for shared decision making

For implementation of patient-centered treatment in interprofessional health care units, such as rehabilitation teams, external participation (interaction between patient and health care professionals) and internal participation (communication, coordination and cooperation in the interprofessional team) need to be considered. The aim of this study is to identify the preferences of patients and health care professionals concerning internal and external participation in rehabilitation clinics, in order to develop an interprofessional shared decision-making (SDM) training program for health care professionals to enhance both types of participation. Therefore, a cross-sectional mixed-methods study was implemented in four rehabilitation clinics. The study consists of two parts: focus groups with patients and a survey of experts (senior health care professionals from medicine, psychotherapy, physical therapy and nursing). More time, more respect from the health care professionals and the desire for more participation in decision-making processes were mentioned most frequently by patients (n = 36) in the focus groups. The health care professionals (n = 32) saw most deficits in internal participation, e.g. management of feedback, talking with difficult team members and moderate conflict discussion. The results of both assessments have been used to develop an interprofessional SDM training program for implementing internal and external participation in interprofessional teams in medical rehabilitation.

Parkinson’s disease masterclass

The Parkinson’s disease masterclasses are run by the movement disorders section of the British Geriatrics Society. The classes aim to provide advanced training for senior healthcare professionals involved in treating patients with Parkinson’s disease and related disorders. Three types of masterclass are run by the British Geriatrics Society. The classic masterclass is for consultants, neurologists, final year specialty registrars, pharmacists, clinical fellows, clinical lecturers, and general practitioners. The registrar masterclass is for specialty trainees who are not in their final year, and the nurse masterclass is for Parkinson’s disease nurse specialists, nurse consultants, and community matrons. I took the registrar masterclass during the second …

Integration of patient safety systems in a suburban hospital

Public awareness of hospital misadventure is now common. In response, we describe our integrated hospital safety system, which is dependent on the linkage of multiple individual safety committees, and the presence on each committee of senior and junior multidisciplinary healthcare professionals to provide feedback to their peer groups on required improvements.

Perceptions of Adult ADHD

A survey was carried out of all consultant psychiatrists and a sample of senior healthcare professionals in North Wales to establish attitudes towards Adult ADHD following the recent publication of NICE guidelines on the condition. Although the sample size was relatively small (N= 50 consultants) it should be noted that 100% completion rate was achieved which was supplemented with responses from twelve senior ward staff. The survey results showed an increasing appreciation of the possible prevalence of Adult ADHD. Considerable variation was observed between consultants in different specialist areas, with child and adolescent mental health consultants showing more consistent beliefs and adult mental health consultants showing a shift in recognition of Adult ADHD. This survey aimed to map changing attitudes towards Adult ADHD. From a therapeutic perspective it makes sense to recognise the reality of the condition. However it should also be acknowledged that perceptions of the prevalence of such conditions may in part be tied into effective marketing.

Tomorrow’s teachers

It is aimed at junior and middle grade doctors who would like to develop their teaching skills. Most participants are registrar level but there are a good number of more junior doctors, from foundation year 2 doctors upwards. The course organisers work very hard to ensure the more junior participants do not feel out of place. The course is part of a series of generic continuing professional development days that have been set up by Wessex Institute for their senior healthcare professionals, but the course is also open to external applicants. The course aims to introduce the basic principles of learning and teaching; identify educational opportunities in day to day practice; provide a forum to practise teaching skills in groups and to receive feedback; and offers an opportunity to explore …

Translating medical science around the world

Translating medical science around the world

Evaluation of a patient-held record for Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)

his paper describes a small-scale evaluation of a patient-held record for MRSA, carried out in NHS T Dumfries and Galloway. The patient-held record was developed in response to the Health Act (2006) Code of Practice requirement to ensure effective communication about infection, both with the patient and with other healthcare providers. The suitability and acceptability of the patient-held record to patients and senior healthcare professionals in primary and community care is described, along with possible benefits of implementing this model of communication. Limitations and further work are considered, including the need to perform a larger study with the patient-held record in use in order to confirm whether it does make a difference over time.

The Integration of Health and Social Care: The Lessons from Northern Ireland

Abstract Mechanisms for the integration of social services with health have come to dominate the debate on providing a more seamless provision of health and social care. Working together at the health and social care interface has been strongly promoted and endorsed in government documents since the late 1990s. Moves towards integration have been treated with suspicion and scepticism in the academic literature, with many authors highlighting the many barriers and challenges presented by this method of working. Yet these proposals do not represent a paradigm shift in culture in all parts of the United Kingdom, as Northern Ireland has had an integrated health and social care system for over thirty years. Based on an empirical study of senior health care professionals in Northern Ireland, this study identifies and discusses the key issues associated with integration. It concludes that the experiences in Northern Ireland have to date been overlooked or misrepresented and could prove extremely valuable in gaining an understanding of the challenges and benefits of integrated arrangements.

Promoting the skills of knowledge translation in an online master of science course in primary health care

We present 4 key arguments: (1) knowledge translation requires tacit and explicit knowledge that must be introduced into the organization as well as simply acquired by individuals; (2) educating for knowledge translation must go beyond conveying facts and developing capability; (3) a constructivist and collaborative approach to education can address the needs of learners for knowledge translation; and (4) the online environment, if appropriately used, has many useful features for supporting constructivist and collaborative learning. We illustrate these arguments with reference to a part-time online master of science course whose learners are mostly senior health care professionals engaged in knowledge translation.

Simulation analysis of the consequences of shifting the balance of health care: a system dynamics approach

The shift in the balance of health care, bringing services 'closer to home', is a well-established trend. This study sought to provide insight into the consequences of this trend, in particular the stimulation of demand, by exploring the underlying feedback structure. We constructed a simulation model using the system dynamics method, which is specifically designed for the analysis of feedback structure. The model was calibrated to two cases of the shift in cardiac catheterization services in the UK. Data sources included archival data, observations and interviews with senior health care professionals. Key model outputs were the basic trends displayed by waiting lists, average waiting times, cumulative patient referrals, cumulative patient activity and cumulative overall costs. Demand was stimulated in both cases via several different mechanisms. We revealed the roles for clinical guidelines and capacity changes, and the typical responses to imbalances between supply and demand. Our analysis also demonstrated the potential benefits of changing the goals that drive activity by seeking a waiting list goal rather than a waiting time goal. Appreciating the wider consequences of shifting the balance of care is essential if services are to be improved overall. The underlying feedback mechanisms of both intended and unintended effects need to be understood. Using a systemic approach, more effective policies may be designed through coordinated programmes rather than isolated initiatives, which may have only a limited impact.

Health-care professionals and management development.

Discusses the impact of a self-governing hospital trust's accredited management development programme designed for health-care professionals responsible for managing natural clinical groups. The programme was a dual qualification: a level 5 national vocational qualification in management, and a diploma in management. Identifies key issues resulting from this type of programme. Discusses participants' evaluation of the two different formats for management development. Highlights the reservations of health-care professionals in respect of competence-based management development, particularly regarding assessment of their work performance. Recognizes that when a group of senior health-care professionals are involved in a long-term in-house management development programme, they may be perceived as a threat by senior management. Concludes that health-care professionals will only engage proactively with management development activities which they perceive to have value for them.