Are the Organisational Management Characteristics of Healthcare Organisations Distinguishable from Other Professional Organisations?

Organisational management characteristics occur with varying rates across industries and organisations within industries. While professional organisations tend to have fewer undesirable management characteristics than non-professional organisations, little work has been done to assess whether healthcare, with its unique legal structure that can put hospital administration at odds with physician autonomy, is an exception among professional organisations. In this study, rates of positive as well as undesirable management practices were estimated from publicly available ethnography data and compared to data from non-healthcare professional settings. A structured literature review was conducted to validate the ethnography data and further explore possible mechanisms. The main finding is that healthcare professionals do have greater group conflict with administration than other professionals and that healthcare settings exhibit greater instances of unwritten rules than other professional organisations. Overall, our results suggest that common management practices in other professional settings may not fully apply to healthcare. The potential for group conflict between physicians and administration is higher than other autonomous professional fields. Healthcare administration may benefit from examining practices in non-professional settings for beneficial ideas in management innovation.

Accreditation and Certification: Do They Improve Hospital Financial and Quality Performance?

The relationship between healthcare organizational accreditation and their leaders’ professional certification in healthcare management is of specific interest to institutions of higher education and individuals in the healthcare management field. Since academic program accreditation is one piece of evidence of high-quality education, and since professional certification is an attestation to the knowledge, skills, and abilities of those who are certified, we expect alumni who graduated from accredited programs and obtained professional certification to have a positive impact on the organizations that they lead, compared with alumni who did not graduate from accredited programs and who did not obtain professional certification. The authors’ analysis examined the impact of hiring graduates from higher education programs that held external accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME). Graduates’ affiliation with the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) professional healthcare leadership organization was also assessed as an independent variable. Study outcomes focused on these graduates’ respective healthcare organization’s performance measures (cost, quality, and access) to assess the researchers’ inquiry into the perceived value of a CAHME-accredited graduate degree in healthcare administration and a professional ACHE affiliation. The results from this study found no effect of CAHME accreditation or ACHE affiliation on healthcare organization performance outcomes. The study findings support the need for future research surrounding healthcare administration professional graduate degree program characteristics and leader development affiliations, as perceived by various industry stakeholders.

Accreditation and Certification: Do they Improve Hospital Financial and Quality Performance?

The impact of organizational accreditation and professional certification and the evidence-based measurable impact of those for both academic programs and affiliates is one of specific interest to universities and individuals in the healthcare management field [1]. The authors’ analysis examined the impact of hiring graduates from higher education programs that held external accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME). Graduates’ affiliation with the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) professional healthcare leadership organization was also assessed as an independent variable. Study outcomes focused on these graduates’ respective healthcare organization’s performance measures (cost, quality, and access) to assess the researchers’ inquiry into the perceived value of a CAHME-accredited graduate degree in healthcare administration and a professional ACHE affiliation [2]. The results from this study found no effect of CAHME accreditation or ACHE affiliation on healthcare organization performance outcomes. The study findings support the need for future research surrounding healthcare administration professional graduate degree program characteristics and leader development affiliations, as perceived by various industry stakeholders.

Keynote Session: Effects of the Pandemic on Cancer Care/Future Directions of Cancer Care

A panel of experts in healthcare administration and delivery convened virtually during the NCCN 2021 Virtual Annual Conference to discuss the effects of the pandemic on cancer care and what the future may hold. The discussion ranged from the effects of the pandemic on screening and the implications of missing early cancers to the challenges of telemedicine, the future delivery of more in-home services, and burnout among healthcare workers as hospitals and cancer centers work to rebuild for the future.

The Practicality of Mobile Applications in Healthcare Administration and COVID-19 Pandemic

Mobile health (mHealth) applications (apps) aid healthcare administration through monitoring health issues and virtually achieving personal well-being goals. There are numerous mHealth apps available; however, their usefulness is unclear. Furthermore, older age groups may be unfamiliar with mHealth apps. Therefore, the purpose of this literature review is to provide an overview of the practicality of mHealth apps in healthcare administration. mHealth apps carry important roles for non-communicable and infectious diseases, primarily during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, people with different backgrounds or ages need to understand to utilise mHealth apps, particularly the ‘MySejahtera’ app. Thus, the classifications, functions, advantages, and disadvantages of mHealth apps are addressed. The information was obtained from a variety of electronic databases, including PUBMED, Google Scholar, UpToDate, and web sources. Several journals, books, articles, and reports were retrieved and analysed based on their relevance from May 2011 to November 2020. Non-communicable diseases, particularly chronic diseases, can be assisted by mHealth as the unique interaction via mHealth apps assist patients in executing optimistic behaviours towards a healthy lifestyle. In the case of COVID-19, this review emphasises the importance of the ‘MySejahtera’ app, which is actively being used in Malaysia to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. This article also discusses mHealth apps’ effectiveness and how Malaysians used the ‘MySejahtera’ app during the COVID-19 pandemic. More secure apps, comparable to the ‘MySejahtera’ app are required to manage infectious diseases like COVID-19 and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes mellitus since the number of mobile app users will continue to grow worldwide.

Challenges and Obstacles Faced by Trainee Female Physicians: An Integrative Research on Gender Discrimination, Stress, Depression and Harassment

This study’s purpose is to assess the challenges and obstacles faced by female trainee physicians and suggest solutions that could resolve these issues and improve their performance. The study utilized an observational, analytical, cross-sectional design based on a self-administered open-ended and validated questionnaire which was distributed to 133 recruited female resident trainees of medical units in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The findings of the study revealed that 52% female trainees experienced gender discrimination, mostly (65%) by their superiors, while 40% were regularly harassed. About half (53%) of the interviewees were severely depressed, resulting in their reconsidering their career in medicine. A total of 14% thought of suicide, while four planned to end and five had attempted to end their life. However, only eight (6%) participants officially reported the cases of harassment to the accountable superiors. Half of them felt neglected by the healthcare administration, and one-fourth (24%) were underachieving in their studies and work. The study concluded that work dissatisfaction, limited clinical correspondence, high depression, burnout, stress and drop-out rates—all deriving from common gender discrimination—compose the alarming and complex challenges that female trainee residents in Jeddah of various levels and specialties have to face.