ABSTRACT
Primary care represents an answer to the growing demand of an ageing population for healthcare services outside the hospital. As a support mechanism of primary care, the distribution of health technologies to chronic patients plays an important role, but it has been investigated from the operational viewpoint only, ignoring the patient's perspective. We explored patient's satisfaction in relation to the distribution processes of incontinence health technologies, investigating its antecedents and isolating the factors driving the satisfaction of patients - which could be leveraged to design better distribution processes for better primary care services. We performed a survey study on 650 patients in primary care services affected by incontinence in Italy, building on the ServQual and Kano models. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with Multi-Group Analysis (MGA) was adopted to analyse the data. Results show that interaction of patients with the personnel delivering the service is the key driver of patient satisfaction: this is an element more important than the operational features of distribution services (such as punctuality/reliability of the service or its flexibility).
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study aims to analyze the managerial levers previously considered in literature in the setting of the provision of primary care and community services (in particular for patients with long-term conditions being treated also at home) as well as those scarcely explored that could potentially be adopted in the future. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This study was a structured literature review. The authors retrieved papers, published from 2005-2020, from electronic databases (i.e. ABI/INFORM Complete, Jstor, PubMed and Scopus). Each selected paper was assigned to a framework category, and a thematic analysis was performed. FINDINGS: Topics scarcely explored in literature were related to logistics/supply chain, economic evaluations, performance management and customer satisfaction. Some papers embraced more than one management topic, confirming the multidisciplinary nature of territorial healthcare services. The majority of research, however, focused on only one aspect of primary care services, and a lack of an integrated view regarding the provision of those services emerged. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This study represents a first attempt to rationalize the fragmented body of knowledge on the topic of the provision of primary and community care services. This study enabled some light to be shed on the managerial levers already explored previously in literature and also identifies a number of trajectories for future research.
Subject(s)
Primary Health Care/organization & administration , Quality of Health CareABSTRACT
Despite an increasing number of third-party logistics service providers (3PLs) regard environmental sustainability as a key area of management, there is still great uncertainty on how 3PLs implement environmental strategies and on how they translate green efforts into practice. Through a multiple case study analysis, this paper explores the environmental strategies of a sample of medium-sized 3PLs operating in Italy and the UK, in terms of environmental organizational culture, initiatives, and influencing factors. Our analysis shows that, notwithstanding environmental sustainability is generally recognised as a strategic priority, a certain degree of diversity in the deployment of environmental strategies still exists. This paper is original since the extant literature on green strategies of 3PLs provides findings predominantly from a single country perspective and mainly investigates large/multinational organizations. It also provides indications to help managers of medium-sized 3PLs in positioning their business. This is particularly meaningful in the 3PL industry, where medium-sized organizations significantly contribute to the generated turnover and market value.
