self-referral (clients and families) or by professionals in the community (prevention driven with active community communication)
The models reflected in case studies followed various segmentation approaches. While all models cover a specific geographical area, they differ in their target group focus. In some cases, models have a broad scope, serving local communities as a whole (Community Health Centre, the Maori health organization); whereas other models focus on a more specific population. For instance, the CREST and care coordination programs in the NZ Network model, focus on people of 65 and older transitioning home from hospital. There were also examples of, “in between” models that focus on frail people or older people as wider target groups. When looking at the entry of these people into models, three categories can be distinguished: 1) professional entry, 2) self-entry, and 3) a combination of both. The Integrated Client Care Program (ICCP) model in Ontario, for example, can only be accessed through professional entry points. In the Community Health Centre model, on the other hand, both self-entry and professional entry are possible, but access is subject to availability and wait-lists. In other programs, such as South Holland, Quebec and the Maori health organization, both professional and self-entry are used.
“People or their family and friends can refer themselves to the program by visiting the municipal single access point (visit, phone and online). People can also be referred by professionals working in their neighborhood, having an active signaling/preventing role.” [South Holland program].
After entering the program, intake processes take place in all cases. Our analysis shows a broad spectrum of formal and less formal ways to conduct an intake. Some initiatives established standardized processes using validated instruments, such as the Functional Autonomy Measuring System (SMAF) guiding the development of multidisciplinary care plans in Quebec. The use of this clinical tool to assess the level of autonomy of older adults was mandated to all programs in Quebec. In other models, such as in the Community agency lead model in Ontario, the intake is an informal process and varies from program to program.
Although some variations in consistency and access are reported, in 10 out of 11 cases information sharing takes place through shared or linked digital data platforms to some degree. Only in the Utrecht Hills case is it described that professionals are not allowed to electronically share information and therefore rely on multi-disciplinary meetings occurring every six weeks.
Although many programs state that their practice is strongly driven by a belief in patient engagement, self-management and caregiver engagement, most report that few formal activities to achieve this have been implemented. Some models stress that goal-setting with patients is part of the working processes and happens regularly (e.g. the Maori health organization, ICCP). Other models report educational materials for patients (Community agency lead model, Ontario), information, advice, guidance and support for caregivers (Utrecht Hills) and respite programs for caregivers (Quebec programs). One program, ICCP, has organized patient and family caregiver roles on committees and strategic planning groups.
“Government emphasizes shared decision-making, which is martialized by the personalized care plan. The operationalization of a “shared decision-making” concept is often difficult. Influenced by provider’s time pressure, case-loads, characteristics of clients (cognitive abilities – here providers will share decision making with their caregivers) etc.” [Quebec model]
Besides their different segmentation, coordination and engagement structures, the models analyzed use a broad range of outcome measures. Mainly the Canadian programs (Community agency lead model, ICCP and Community Health Centre in Ontario, and all cases in Quebec) collect a relatively extensive amount of data on health outcomes, patient and caregiver experiences and costs. For example: the community agency lead model, collects data on service utilization, client experience/satisfaction, ER visits and fall rates, quality of life as well as a variety of primary care measures. Other practices measure their success in a less standardized way, for instance by focusing on process measures (NZ Network model) or by using more pragmatic and informal measures (South Holland). Three programs reported that no outcomes are identified or systematically measured. Only one program (representing the three Quebec cases) reports that several formal research studies have been conducted for the evaluation of the model.
The 11 cases analyzed had various governance structures. Most models had a shared governance structure consisting of partnerships between organizations involved in the continuum of care for their target populations (South Holland, Utrecht Hills, the Community agency lead model, NZ Network model). Partner organizations were often represented in steering committees of directors which included partner representation. Other programs were led by a single organization operating with a board of directors (ICCP, Community Health Centre). The Quebec program (representing 3 cases in different sized jurisdictions) follows a fully integrated model with the structural merger of all health and social care organizations under a single governance structure.
Funding approaches also varied across models. The Maori health organization model was funded by multiple sources – government, district health boards and primary health organizations. South Holland and Utrecht Hills adopted mixed funding models through local/municipal governments and private health insurers. Other models had dedicated funding through partnerships of organizations for specific staff within a primary health care clinic. For instance, the ICCP model was jointly funded (in-kind) with staff supported by the primary care practice and the local community agency. The Quebec model is based on a global budget to a single governance structure financed publicly through taxation.
Although multidisciplinary team-based care was an essential component of each case, most staff stayed employed by their mother organizations. Two approaches emerged on the staffing models that ensured multidisciplinary team-based care. First, South Holland, Utrecht Hills and NZ Network programs did not change their staffing models – these programs focused on changing professional attitudes towards improved inter-professional collaborative relationships. Second, other programs opted for co-location of staff. For instance, the ICCP model co-located community care coordinators to multidisciplinary primary care teams while the Quebec model co-located nurses and social workers to community-based family medicine group.
While nearly all cases used some sort of IT system to store and share data, our analysis reveals models have two main data sharing issues in common. First, the models faced challenges in linking data between the “newer” IT systems and the “older” IT systems. In fact, the newer IT systems were often layered upon existing IT systems. Furthermore, older technologies like faxing were still used to share data across organizational boundaries. Second, there was a lack of interconnectivity between IT systems of various health and social care providers. For instance, in some programs, the IT systems of nurses, social workers or community-based family physicians were not inter-connected. Co-location of staff in the ICCP model facilitated data sharing because community care coordinators could access the IT system of their primary organization and share relevant data with their primary health team. A challenge related to the use of IT by different professionals is the access to data entry compared to reading only. This had an impact in the interdisciplinary communication.
Innovation was an important aspect of the programs we analyzed. We identified several local care delivery innovations across the programs. Most programs endeavored to assign a single contact person responsible for the coordinating health and social services for a user. New professional roles like the care navigator were developed in the Maori health organization model. Co-located hub sites that brought together different professionals from different organizations was an innovative feature of the Community Health Centre model. The Quebec models developed innovative and comprehensive multidisciplinary health and social care evaluation tools (such as the OEMC ( outil d.évaluation multiclientèle ) tool) that facilitated inter-professional collaborations.
The results presented here represents a step in the development of an international standard for reporting integrated care initiatives, offering a cognitive test and additional validation of the Case Template developed to describe integrated care cases. We have demonstrated that the Case Template can successfully be applied to disparate international research studies, generating comparable data across 11 cases from 3 different research programs across 4 countries. In this discussion, we suggest modifications to the Case Template based on this work, and identify potential value this approach brings to different stakeholders, with an emphasis on value for adopters of integrated models.
Based on our application of the template as well as feedback from the ICIC19 workshop, we identified the following adoption challenges:
Definitional clarity: In particular during the workshop, delegates struggled with definitional clarity needed to help them apply their experiences and models to the Case Template. One notable example provided by a delegate was around the concept of a “care or patient navigator.” This term was not consistently used across different jurisdictions amongst delegates, nor was it used consistently in the iCOACH and Vilans cases, leading to an in-depth discussion of what is meant by navigation as compared to coordination. It was determined that key terms in the template would need to be well-defined to ensure clear understanding and comparability across jurisdictions. Attending to perspective: Another important reflection in the workshop discussion was regarding attending to who exactly would be filling out the templates should these be implemented across multiple jurisdictions and programs looking to describe their models of care. It was noted that a front-line clinician and executive-level manager of the same model may respond to the same questions differently, requiring that we be clear on who in the organization should be filling out the templates to ensure comparability across sites. Divergence in perspective from different stakeholders has been found to impede implementation of integrated care [ 34 ], and as such a critical component when thinking of scaling and spreading models. Redundant concepts: Another area of struggle for the research team, as well as for delegates in the workshop, was in teasing apart concepts that felt too similar or event redundant. The most prominent example of this was in questions around eligibility in the segmentation section, and the intake process in the coordination section. It was found that often models of care would determine eligibility as part of their intake process via assessments, surveys, or interviews with patients and their families. Capturing culture: Both the research team and workshop delegates noted that the Case Template captures more process-oriented aspects of integrated care with less emphasis on cultural practices that are equally important to driving models of integrated care[ 35 ]; one notable exception is a prompt questions regarding having a patient and family engagement culture at the organization. In research team discussions, as well as those in the workshop, it was found that we could not speak about what worked functionally without attending to normative issues of relationship and culture that were considered necessary to make processes work. Even in filling out the templates, jurisdiction leads would often include reflections on these normative aspects of integrated care as they could not be removed from the processes being described. What level of context details matter: A consistent debate amongst the research team, and reflected in workshop discussions was the level of detail required in filling out the Case Template. This was particularly important with regard to sharing learning on how cases addressed common issues. For example, when discussing the differences between funding models, it was important to drill down on key details such as navigating union agreements and how to engage multiple funders so cases could learn how to navigate these difficulties. Other challenges, however, required less detail to understand across cases. In discussing inter-professional teams, it was determined to be less important to know exactly how an inter-disciplinary team was structured (eg, how many physicians, nurses, or social workers involved) or communicated, than it was to understand how the team built their relationship so they could work together to meet patient needs.
While challenges were noted, the delegates at the workshop generally felt the structure of the template captured key aspects of integrated care. It was clear in the discussion that the template was not considered to be a stand-in for more rigorous comparative case study research methods, but rather is most useful as a practical tool to describe cases and support knowledge sharing across boundaries. The participants felt the relevance of the framework was to summarize case studies and initiate a conversation to share learning on key features of integrated care models.
A critical learning was that we were successful in adopting the Case Template given the team’s research skills and in-depth knowledge of cases. While this allowed us to create comparable data sets, this may not be easily applied by managers who wish to describe their models of care. As such we offer two modifications to the template. The first is a refinement of the template that can be adopted by other researchers seeking to use the template to compare disparate empirical cases of integrated care. The second is a simplified template that we anticipate can be more readily adopted by managers to quickly describe their model in a standardized way.
During the post-workshop discussion, the research team identified the key areas where the template required modification based on: 1) what was discussed at the workshop and 2) notes and minutes from analysis meetings in which the challenges of applying the framework across cases were documented. We determined that many of the challenges identified in our application of the template and workshop with delegates from ICIC19 can be mitigated by modifying the template as well as providing clear definitions and guidelines for its application. Much of the content and structure worked well, and will be strengthened through the following changes:
To address the important aspect of perspective and definition, we also recommend adding:
Finally, we recommend restructuring the approach to improve feasibility of use for secondary data analysis, allowing data to be extracted from available sources rather than using an interview format. We added an introductory page which addresses how to do this work, the issue of describing contributors, and a space to provide a high level context summary of factors viewed as influential on the model described (addressing the identified issue of context). We reflect these changes to the template in Supplementary Materials #2.
For researchers, this template can be used to determine comparability of case study data as a preliminary step before engaging in more rigorous comparative case study work. One approach to comparative case studies suggestion by the WHO is to look at available data with an aim to adapting it to a common unit of comparison [ 7 ]. Our proposed modifications to the Case Template can help to achieve this aim, and serves to address three identified challenges when engaging in service level comparisons across regional boundaries [ 16 ]:
The proposed modified template can help research teams describe cases including both program and contextual policy-related factors. For non-researchers, further simplification and standardization is useful.
Keeping the modifications above in mind, as well as what was learned in applying this method, it is clear that our success in using the Case Template to compare and contrast a highly varied set of programs may likely be derived from having: 1) strong research backgrounds; 2) expertise in the area of integrated care; and 3) in-depth knowledge of the cases we were describing. There have been attempts by the researchers who developed the Case Template to have front-line managers and providers use it with much less success, mainly due to its depth and complexity. As part of this work to create a survey that could be used from front-line staff, research team members have been working with IFIC to review other survey tools alongside the Case Template to see if the tool could be simplified. These other tools were reviewed, and, alongside what was learned to modify the Case Template, a simplified template was developed. An initial version was written, then circulated to the team for review and discussion until consensus was reached. This second modification to the template is intended to be used by managers and providers working on the front-line to describe their cases. This simplified template can be found in Supplementary Materials #3. The intention here is to allow for a standardized approach to describing models of integrated care internationally that can be collected quickly and effectively directly from those delivering the model; reducing the need for the resource-intensive approach that relies on research teams.
A simplified, standardized template has value to many stakeholders in the system but, in particular, organizations seeking to provide innovative integrated care either by modifying their existing care delivery or adopting innovations that others have developed. In both circumstances, there is a need to accurately document or describe the innovation and to systematically understand which components or processes have been kept the same and which have been modified. These descriptions help organizations to more clearly see the main components of integrated care models, compare their existing ways of working, and see the path towards a more mature system (eg, moving from having no structured protocols for coordination processes, towards having clear protocols and strong commitment).
In the background section of this paper we presented Horton and the Health Foundations argument for the need to balance the “tightening” and “loosening” of program sections to support adoption of complex interventions [ 4 , 25 ]. Particularly in the context of adoption of complex integrated care innovations, there is a tension between having a very detailed definition or codification of the innovation that allows for fidelity and assurance of expected outcomes and allowing for modifications to take into account local context and resources [ 36 ]. The goal then is to find a “middle” way between descriptions that are too tight to be successfully replicated in new settings and too loose to allow for a reasonable expectation of predicted impact. Some recent work has shown that frameworks that are acceptable for descriptions of randomized trials may not be detailed enough to allow for meaningful spread and adoption [ 37 ]. We hope to test our new framework in the context of supporting adopters to determine if it is closer to the middle way than other existing tools [ 38 ].
A final value-add of the both modified and simplified templates is the opportunity to build a community of practice around the implementation of integrated care internationally that not only consists of those studying integrated care, but those engaging in it as well. Establishing continuous learning and social networks create opportunities for training and knowledge exchange that are found to be critical factors in supporting scale and spread of health system reform efforts [ 39 ]. We intend to use the simplified template to support sharing of knowledge, enable self-assessment, and help build social networks to advance scale and spread. First, we will pilot the simplified template at ICIC20 in Croatia with attending delegates, as well as through IFIC and its affiliate branches in Canada, Ireland and Australia with the longer term vision of generating a summary data set of integrated care models worldwide. The summary data set represents important shared knowledge that can be used by providers and managers to compare themselves to other models working in similar contexts. As IFIC already has a wide international member-base, it can also help facilitate additional social networking between models with similar profiles which can help support teams to come together across borders and then ask more detailed and granular questions to deepen learning and support scale and spread.
To conduct this comparative model of integrated care, the team worked with data already collected through case study research. As there was no ability to probe beyond the information already available, some details regarding descriptions of the models may have been missed. We additionally were unable to determine, at this stage, the “correct” or “optimal” level of detail required to provide more granular guidance. The discussion at the conference offers some indications that focusing on higher level context variables offers insightful information to compare cases, and may be more feasible than providing in-depth detail at all levels. However, we recognize that this approach may miss some micro level differences that could be important for adopters and researchers to consider. More work to tease apart the “right” level of context detail is likely still required.
We also recognize the issue regarding differing perspectives of management and front-line staff that was raised at the workshop may be a substantive one, potentially signaling issues with culture and leadership approach of a model. As these are complex challenges we do not recommend unpacking them using a descriptive template such as is presented here. Instead identification of disparate perspectives within a single model may signal the need for researchers to dig more deeply, and for models to attend to misalignment in the understanding of the programs vision, aims, and processes amongst staff.
The sample of cases we chose for this analysis was necessarily based on a convenience sample of the studies we had already conducted. An application of our method to other cases may yield additional insights on the template, and as such we recommend the modified and simplified templates be viewed as “living documents” to be revisited and refined as they get applied and new insights are generated.
Finally, the two modified versions of the survey require further validation and testing, in particular, the simplified version needs to be tested with front-line providers and managers to ensure that it can indeed be easily applied and provide implementation guidance. As previously noted we intend to pilot the simplified survey in 2020 through IFIC, as well as at ICIC20 as a step towards further validation.
This paper demonstrates that a standard case description template can be effectively applied as a secondary data extraction method; helping to create comparable descriptions of integrated care cases across international boundaries by drawing on data collected as part of case study research. The presented modified and simplified templates address a number of the challenges identified by the researchers in applying the tool and providers and managers who were presented the tool via a workshop at ICIC19. As demonstrated by the work presented in this paper, the modified tool will be valuable to researchers studying integrated care across different jurisdictions as a means to provide a high level comparable summary of key components of integrated care models. The presented simplified tool, we feel, has significant potential to be valuable to adopters of integrated care by offering a simple tool that can be used to summarize and compare cases, helping models to situate themselves as compared to peers, and make meaningful connections to other models as a means to further efforts to scale and spread models towards broader health system transformation.
The additional files for this article can be found as follows:
Full case descriptions.
Integrated Care Case Study Descriptive Template Structured Interview Guide – used for Commonwealth Fund study.
Integrated Care Case Study Descriptive Template – Modified Version.
Integrated Care Case Study Descriptive Template – Simplified Version.
We would like to acknowledge the highly engaged and enthusiastic participants in the workshop at the International Conference on Integrated Care held on Monday April 1 st 2019 in San Sebastian, Spain who shared their ideas, insights, and experiences. We would additionally like to acknowledge the trainees and colleagues who helped facilitate the session, take notes, and shared reflections on the day: Dr. Patrick Feng, Dr. G Ross Baker, Dara Gordon, Jennifer Gutberg, and Jennifer Im. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the support of Dr. Henk Nies whose leadership at Vilans helped us to build the partnership which resulted in this work.
Dr Teresa Burdett, Senior Lecturer in Integrated Health Care, Unit Lead for Foundations of Integrated Care and Person Centred Services, UK.
Dr Anna Charles, Senior Policy Adviser, The King’s Fund, UK.
WPW is a facilitator of the IFIC Canada hub site, and leads the Scientific Committee for the North American Conference on Integrated Care (NACIC) planned for October 2020. CSG is also on the Scientific Committee for NACIC. WPW and CSG’s roles are on a voluntary basis. All other authors have no competing interests.
Researchers say early warning system, launched in 2020 at st. michael's hospital, is 'saving lives'.
Inside a bustling unit at St. Michael's Hospital in downtown Toronto, one of Shirley Bell's patients was suffering from a cat bite and a fever, but otherwise appeared fine — until an alert from an AI-based early warning system showed he was sicker than he seemed.
While the nursing team usually checked blood work around noon, the technology flagged incoming results several hours beforehand. That warning showed the patient's white blood cell count was "really, really high," recalled Bell, the clinical nurse educator for the hospital's general medicine program.
The cause turned out to be cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection. Without prompt treatment, it can lead to extensive tissue damage, amputations and even death. Bell said the patient was given antibiotics quickly to avoid those worst-case scenarios, in large part thanks to the team's in-house AI technology, dubbed Chartwatch.
"There's lots and lots of other scenarios where patients' conditions are flagged earlier, and the nurse is alerted earlier, and interventions are put in earlier," she said. "It's not replacing the nurse at the bedside; it's actually enhancing your nursing care."
A year-and-a-half-long study on Chartwatch, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that use of the AI system led to a striking 26 per cent drop in the number of unexpected deaths among hospitalized patients.
"We're glad to see that we're saving lives," said co-author Dr. Muhammad Mamdani, vice-president of data science and advanced analytics at Unity Health Toronto and director of the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine.
The research team looked at more than 13,000 admissions to St. Michael's general internal medicine ward — an 84-bed unit caring for some of the hospital's most complex patients — to compare the impact of the tool among that patient population to thousands of admissions into other subspecialty units.
"At the same time period in the other units in our hospital that were not using Chartwatch, we did not see a change in these unexpected deaths," said lead author Dr. Amol Verma, a clinician-scientist at St. Michael's, one of three Unity Health Toronto hospital network sites, and Temerty professor of AI research and education in medicine at University of Toronto.
"That was a promising sign."
The Unity Health AI team started developing Chartwatch back in 2017, based on suggestions from staff that predicting deaths or serious illness could be key areas where machine learning could make a positive difference.
The technology underwent several years of rigorous development and testing before it was deployed in October 2020, Verma said.
"Chartwatch measures about 100 inputs from [a patient's] medical record that are currently routinely gathered in the process of delivering care," he explained. "So a patient's vital signs, their heart rate, their blood pressure … all of the lab test results that are done every day."
Working in the background alongside clinical teams, the tool monitors any changes in someone's medical record "and makes a dynamic prediction every hour about whether that patient is likely to deteriorate in the future," Verma told CBC News.
That could mean someone getting sicker, or requiring intensive care, or even being on the brink of death, giving doctors and nurses a chance to intervene.
In some cases, those interventions involve escalating someone's level of treatment to save their life, or providing early palliative care in situations where patients can't be rescued.
In either case, the researchers said, Chartwatch appears to complement clinicians' own judgment and leads to better outcomes for fragile patients, helping to avoid more sudden and potentially preventable deaths.
Beyond its uses in medicine, artificial intelligence is getting plenty of buzz — and blowback — in recent years.
From controversy around the use of machine learning software to crank out academic essays, to concerns over AI's capacity to create realistic audio and video content mimicking real celebrities, politicians, or average citizens, there have been plenty of reasons to be cautious about this emerging technology.
Verma himself said he's long been wary. But in health care, he stressed, these tools have immense potential to combat the staff shortages plaguing Canada's health-care system by supplementing traditional bedside care.
It's still the early days for many of those efforts. Various research teams, including private companies, are exploring ways to use AI for earlier cancer detection. Some studies suggest it has potential for flagging hypertension just by listening to someone's voice; others show it could scan brain patterns to detect signs of a concussion .
Chartwatch is notable, Verma stressed, because of its success in keeping actual patients alive.
"Very few AI technologies have actually been implemented into clinical settings yet. This is, to our knowledge, one of the first in Canada that has actually been implemented to help us care for patients every day in our hospital," he said.
The St. Michael's-based research does have limitations. The study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when the health-care system faced an unusual set of challenges. The urban hospital's patient population is also distinct, the team acknowledged, given its high level of complex patients, including individuals facing homelessness, addiction and overlapping health issues.
"Our study was not a randomized controlled trial across multiple hospitals. It was within one organization, within one unit," Verma said. "So before we say that this tool can be used widely everywhere, I think we do need to do research on its use in multiple contexts."
Dr. John-Jose Nunez, a psychiatrist and researcher with the University of British Columbia — who wasn't involved in the study — agreed the research needs to be replicated elsewhere to get a better sense of how well Chartwatch might work in other facilities. There also needs to be considerations around patient privacy, he added, with the use of any emerging AI technologies.
Still, he praised the study team for providing a "real-world" example of how machine learning can improve patient care.
"I really think of AI tools as becoming one more team member on the clinical care team," he said.
The Unity Health team is hopeful their technology will roll out more widely in the future, within their own Toronto-based hospital network and beyond.
Much of that work is happening through GEMINI , Canada's largest hospital data-sharing network for research and analytics, said Mamdani, Unity Health's vice-president of data science.
More than 30 hospitals across Ontario are working together, he said, offering opportunities to test Chartwatch and other AI tools in various clinical settings and hospitals.
"It just sets the groundwork now to be able to deploy these things well beyond our four walls," Mamdani said.
Senior Health & Medical Reporter
Lauren Pelley covers the global spread of infectious diseases, pandemic preparedness and the crucial intersection between health and climate change for CBC. She's a two-time Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario Media Award winner for in-depth health reporting in 2020 and 2022 and a silver medallist for best editorial newsletter at the 2024 Digital Publishing Awards for CBC Health's Second Opinion. Contact her at: [email protected]
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IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Introduction. The popularity of case study research methodology in Health Services Research (HSR) has grown over the past 40 years. 1 This may be attributed to a shift towards the use of implementation research and a newfound appreciation of contextual factors affecting the uptake of evidence-based interventions within diverse settings. 2 Incorporating context-specific information on the ...
Health-care professionals who were providers of EoL care in the case study service model were purposively sampled and invited to take part in a semistructured interview, either individually or in a group. HCPs were asked about their experiences of facilitating access to medicines, including barriers and facilitating factors.
Our current health care system is broken and unsustainable. Patients desire the highest quality care, and it needs to cost less. To regain public trust, the health care system must change and adapt to the current needs of patients. The diverse group of stakeholders in the health care system creates challenges for improving the value of care. Health care providers are in the best position to ...
Abstract. The case study approach allows in-depth, multi-faceted explorations of complex issues in their real-life settings. The value of the case study approach is well recognised in the fields of business, law and policy, but somewhat less so in health services research. Based on our experiences of conducting several health-related case ...
We draw from the case study and mixed-methods literature to develop the DESCARTE model as an innovative approach to the design, conduct, and reporting of case studies in health care. We examine how case study fits within the overall enterprise of qualitatively driven mixed-methods research, and the potential strengths of the model are considered.
The Design of Case Study Research in Health Care (DESCARTE) model suggests a series of questions to be asked of a case study researcher (including clarity about the philosophy underpinning their research), study design (with a focus on case definition) and analysis (to improve process). The model resembles toolkits for enhancing the quality and ...
Case study is a research methodology, typically seen in social and life sciences. There is no one definition of case study research.1 However, very simply… 'a case study can be defined as an intensive study about a person, a group of people or a unit, which is aimed to generalize over several units'.1 A case study has also been described as an intensive, systematic investigation of a ...
The seven reported case studies represent integrated care implementation efforts from five countries and continents (United States, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Israel, and Nigeria), target a range of clinical populations and care settings, and span all phases of the EPIS framework. ... integrated care models in healthcare systems such as the UK ...
We sought to compare these different approaches and to examine their strengths and weaknesses, through a case study of a hospitalization prediction model, implemented across three diverse real ...
Organisational change in health systems is common. Success is often tied to the actors involved, including their awareness of the change, personal engagement and ownership of it. In many health systems, one of the most common changes we are witnessing is the redevelopment of long-standing hospitals. However, we know little about how hospital staff understand and experience such potentially far ...
In order to develop the CSC model using a systematic approach, a combination of literature studies, case report analyses, in-depth interviews and statistical comparisons was applied. In addition to the literature studies, we undertook an exploratory qualitative study to investigate the concept of international healthcare service quality ...
According to the results of our research, the case management models were discussed between 1989 and 2014. As Table 2 shows, the studies were initially screened based on the author's name, year of publication, study period, study position, and the model used in case management. Finally, we described each of the case management models.
All members of the healthcare team can be leaders and evidence-based theory should inform their leadership practice. This article uses a case study approach to critically evaluate leadership as exercised by a charge nurse and a student nurse in a clinical scenario. Ineffective leadership styles are identified and alternatives proposed ...
In their case study, Chikul et al. (2017) compare three supply chain models that use: a) manual inventory check and delivery, b) RFID inventory check and manual delivery, and c) manual inventory ...
The workshop's second panel featured three case studies presented by long-time modelers which were offered to illustrate some of the ways in which models can be used to inform health policy. In each case, said session moderator Pamela Russo, a senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the models are nonlinear, dynamic, and ...
The case study approach allows in-depth, multi-faceted explorations of complex issues in their real-life settings. The value of the case study approach is well recognised in the fields of business, law and policy, but somewhat less so in health services research. Based on our experiences of conducting several health-related case studies, we reflect on the different types of case study design ...
Taking a case study approach to assessing alternative leadership models in health care. June 2018. British Journal of Nursing 27 (11):608-613. DOI: 10.12968/bjon.2018.27.11.608. Authors: Jonathan ...
Healthcare PE Strategy Over the Years: Case Studies PE Investment Models in Healthcare. The most common financing model used by PE in healthcare has traditionally been a leveraged buyout (LBO). The approach involves a financial transaction where a PE firm buys a majority stake in a healthcare company using a significant amount of borrowed money.
Case study - Canola Fields deliberate team-based care model. A GP practice in Canowindra uses a community-based deliberate team-based care (DTBC) program. The model supports patient-centred care, shared across a team of health professionals. The DTBC program has reduced hospitalisations, improved access to care, and reduced treatment waiting ...
Cardiac surgeries in the United States can cost up to US$50,000. In India, they typically cost around US$5,000-US$7,000. Depending on the complexities of the procedure and the length of the ...
Background. The last century has seen a continuous growth in investment in the health systems of high-income countries. 1 This has contributed to significant improvements in population health and a reduction in demand for medical care of communicable diseases, but a proportional increase in demand for the management of chronic and complex conditions. 2 3 In addition, advances in medical ...
Case study - Snowy Valleys shared medical appointment model. The Snowy Valleys project is a shared medical appointment where health professionals consult patients with common health conditions, involving peer-to-peer sharing. This model included 3 separate trials, in which 2 produced sufficient billings through Medicare to satisfy ...
With progressive digitalization of healthcare systems worldwide, large-scale collection of electronic health records (EHRs) has become commonplace. However, an extensible framework for ...
The 4Ts model provides a single employer, and shares doctors between 4 part-time primary care clinics, located in each towns' Multi-Purpose Service hospital. The model has decreased MPS emergency presentations and readmission rates. ... Case study - 4Ts networked single employer GP model ... The Department of Health and Aged Care ...
Background Health professionals need to be prepared for interdisciplinary research collaborations aimed at the development and implementation of medical technology. Expertise is highly domain-specific, and learned by being immersed in professional practice. Therefore, the approaches and results from one domain are not easily understood by experts from another domain. Interdisciplinary ...
Theory and methods: A framework developed for an international study of programs that address high needs high cost patients was used to describe and compare 11 case studies analyzed in two international research projects; the Implementing Integrated Care for Older Adults with Complex Health Needs (iCOACH) study in Canada and New Zealand, and the Vilans research group exploring models in the ...
'Real world' look at AI's health-care impact The St. Michael's-based research does have limitations. The study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when the health-care system faced ...
Background: Designing web-based informational materials regarding the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has become a challenge for designers and decision makers in the health authorities because of the scientific and public controversy regarding the vaccine's safety and effectiveness and the sexual and moral concerns related to its use. Objective: The study aimed to investigate how cultural ...
Deliberate team-based care model. Innovative models of care case study. The IMOC Program helps organisations trial new ways of providing primary care in rural and remote communities. Funding is for governance, community engagement and program management activities to support innovative health services delivery. ... involved the patient in their ...
Previous health communication research has demonstrated the negative psychological and health effects of depicting thin-sized models in mass media advertisements including on social media sites such as Instagram. However, gym advertisements are one common source for the presentation of lean and thin-sized models on Instagram. Therefore, the current study guided by social comparison theory and ...