 |
Effect of Star Employees on Team Performance: The Case of Surgeons in Korean Hospitals
|
Author: Sangsuk Oh, National Cancer Center Korea
Author: Owwon Park, The Catholic U. of Korea
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest in star employees is increasing because the competitive advantage of a firm depends on its level of human capital. Hospital organizations operate in a knowledge-based, labor-intensive industry, and human capital has a larger influence on organizational performance than any other industry. Accordingly, hospitals invest in recruiting and utilizing star doctors with a high level of human capital. Nonetheless, little empirical research has been done on the effects of star doctors in hospital organizations. Findings of previous studies showed that the effects of star employees on organizational performance vary depending on the interdependency of the task and the level of cooperation. Thus, empirical research on the effect of star doctors in hospital organizations, which show relatively weak interdependency, may have various implications. On the basis of human capital and social capital theories, we analyzed the effect of the number of star surgeons in a hospital on the quantitative performance of the team by measuring the average number of surgical patients. The qualitative performance of the team was also measured by the patient’s average length of in-hospital stay. An empirical analysis was also conducted on the moderating effect of team diversity between number of star surgeons and team performance. Specifically, the moderating effect of the ratio of high-ranking surgeons in the team and the college graduate diversity of surgeons was investigated. An empirical analysis of colorectal cancer surgeons in 80 hospital organizations in South Korea showed that the number of star surgeons was positively related to the team’s average number of surgical patients and negatively related to the patient’s average length of in-hospital stay. A high ratio of high-ranking surgeons in the team resulted in a strong positive relationship between the number of star surgeons and the team’s average number of surgical patients. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings were discussed.
|
|
|
|
Paper is No Longer Available Online: Please contact the author(s).
|
|
|
|
|
Hospital Cultural Competency and Attributes of Patient Safety Culture: A study of US Hospitals
|
Author: Soumya Upadhyay, U. of Nevada Las Vegas
Author: Christopher Cochran, U. of Nevada Las Vegas
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Given the increase in racial and ethnic diversity in the U.S., hospitals face a challenge in terms of providing safe and high quality care to minority patients. Cultural competency can be used as a resourceful strategy to provide safe care and improve patient safety culture. In particular, becoming culturally competent can influence employee behaviors through training and education on diversity. This paper aims to examine if cultural competency impacts employee’s perceptions of attributes of safety culture. A longitudinal study design was used with 283 unique hospital observations from 2014-2016. The dependent variables were percent composite scores for four attributes of perceived safety culture: 1) management support for patient safety, 2) non-punitive response to error, 3) teamwork across units, and 4) communication openness. The independent variable was cultural competency considered in 3 categories: 1) robust, 2) medium, and 3) low. Hospital characteristics, market characteristics, and % diversity were controlled for. Lagged effects of cultural competency score on patient safety culture data were used. Ordinal logistic regressions were used for analyses. Results indicate that hospitals that have a robust cultural competency have a 0.05% higher perceptions of management support for safety, 0.04% higher perceptions of non-punitive response, and a 0.03 % higher perceptions of teamwork across units as compared to hospitals that have a low cultural competency (p<0.05). In general, culturally competent hospitals have better safety culture than their counterparts. Cultural competency is an important resource to build safety culture so that safe care for patients from minority and diverse backgrounds can be delivered.
|
|
|
|
Paper is No Longer Available Online: Please contact the author(s).
|
|
|
|
|
Are Retail Clinics an Effective Primary Disruption? Review of Their Cost, Quality, and Satisfaction
|
Author: Timothy Hoff, Northeastern U.
Author: Kathryn Prout, Northeastern U.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Retail clinics, also referred to as walk-in or convenient care clinics, share common features such as a limited menu of primary care services, on-demand patient appointments, greater use of non-physician providers such as nurse practitioners, and more convenient hours and access points for patients. Given their rising popularity as an alternative primary care delivery site, it is important to examine retail clinics’ impact on patient outcomes. This study’s aim was to systematically review the extant literature on retail clinics in the United States with respect to three outcomes of interest: quality, cost, and patient satisfaction. Several online databases and a PRISMA-guided approach helped to identify 15 relevant studies examining retail clinic care with the outcomes of interest. Overall, retail clinic care compares favorably to similar care in other settings in terms of lower costs, although the evidence on quality and patient satisfaction is minimal and less conclusive. Future research on retail clinic care requires more rigorous study designs, richer quality measures, inclusion of the patient experience in outcomes, less reliance on administrative claims data, and greater independence from industry stakeholders with interest in seeing the retail clinic model grow.
|
|
|
|
Paper is No Longer Available Online: Please contact the author(s).
|
|
|
|
|