Healthcare Management Forum

Little is known about the current extent, purpose and organization of research within Canadian hospitals. As hospitals face the challenge of reorganization, such information would seem essential. To explore this issue, the authors surveyed Canadian hospitals with more than 100 beds. The results, reported here, reveal that almost all of responding hospitals had engaged in some form of research in the previous 12 months, although the type and number of research projects tended to vary with the size of hospital and the status of university affiliation. The study also found that most hospitals have resources specifically dedicated to research, conduct ethical reviews and engage in interdisciplinary research. The vast majority of respondents felt that hospital-based research would assume more importance in the future.

On connaît très peu de choses sur l'envergure, le but et l'organisation actuels de la recherche en milieu hospitalier au Canada. À un moment où les hôpitaux doivent relever le défi de la réorganisation, il semblerait que de tels renseignements soient essentiels. Pour étudier cette question, les auteurs ont interrogé des hôpitaux canadiens de plus de 100 lits. Les résultats, rapportés ici, révèlent que presque tous les hôpitaux interrogés ont fait de la recherche sous une forme ou une autre au cours des douze mois précédents, quoique le type et le nombre de projets de recherche aient tendance à varier selon la taille de l'hôpital et l'affiliation universitaire. L'étude a aussi permis de voir que la plupart des hôpitaux ont des ressources dédiées spécifiquement à la recherche, revoient les cas de déontologie, et participent à des recherches pluridisciplinaires. Selon la grande majorité des participants, l'importance de la recherche en milieu hospitalier devrait augmenter dans l'avenir.

This article outlines the approaches taken to the management of two long-term care facilities by the County of Huron in southwestern Ontario in 1994. Lay-offs, a move to new facilities, loss of local political confidence, changes in key administrative personnel and low staff morale prompted the county to ask an interim administrative team to develop and implement an appropriate response. The article explains how community development and planning principles and techniques were applied to the management of the homes to achieve an overall improvement in communication, staff morale and attitude. These approaches may prove helpful to other administrations facing major change.

Physician impact analysis (PIA) is a human resource planning tool used to predict the impact on hospital resources of adding a new or replacement physician to a hospital's medical staff. This article describes the findings of a study which examined the extent to which PIAs are used in Ontario acute care hospitals and the accuracy of PIA predictions. The results suggest that although PIA appears to be widely used, there is no evidence that it meets the intended policy objective of accurately predicting physician hospital resource use.

The first reengineering project undertaken by the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre after adopting a philosophy of patient-focused care was the introduction of a new category of worker: the multi-skilled service assistant. This article describes the experiences of the first two cohorts of service assistants and assesses the changes made to the work itself and the integration of the new workers into the work environment. It concludes by sharing recommendations for introducing a new work role.

During the past decade, the health services sector has experienced a period of rapid change that has resulted in the creation of a large number of new services. This article advocates the use of a service development matrix as a planning aid for senior managers seeking to attract additional revenue through the development of new services. By strategically selecting and developing new services, rather than simply imitating other health care providers, marketers will be better able to focus limited corporate resources on new service initiatives that generate positive returns.