How Do Shifts in Patients with Mental Health Problems' Formal and Informal Care Utilization Affect Informal Caregivers?: A COVID-19 Case Study.

(1) Background: This study investigated how potential shifts in patients' formal and informal care utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted their informal caregivers in terms of their subjective burden, psychological wellbeing, and happiness. (2) Methods: A retrospective cohort study design was employed for a panel of Dutch informal caregivers of persons with mental health problems (n = 219) in June 2020. Descriptive statistics and differences between means were determined for the patients' informal and care utilization and informal caregivers' subjective burden, happiness, and psychological wellbeing. Three mediation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro. (3) Results: Informal caregivers reported significantly worse happiness and subjective burden scores during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with before the lockdown. There were minimal shifts in patient's care utilization reported, with the exception of a decrease in significant emotional and practical support provided by the informal caregiver. In the mediation analyses, there was not a significant indirect effect of shifts in patients' formal care utilization on informal caregivers' subjective burden, psychological wellbeing, and happiness through shifts in patients' informal care utilization. (4) Discussion and conclusion: Whilst we found that shifts in patients' care utilization during the first wave of the pandemic did not affect the informal caregiver in the short term, it is unclear what the long-term impact of the pandemic might be on informal caregivers. More research should be conducted to understand the implications of short- and long-term impact of substitution on informal caregivers of persons with mental health problems, with special consideration of the COVID-19 context and uptake of e-health technology.

Assessing the impact of caregiving on informal caregivers of adults with a mental disorder in OECD countries: A systematic literature review of concepts and their respective questionnaires.

We conducted a systematic literature review to identify and review the concepts and questionnaires used to assess the impact of caregiving on caregivers for adults with a mental disorder. With our study, we aimed to provide an overview and categorize the conceptualization and operationalization of the impact of caregiving, with special attention for the complexity and multi-conceptualization of concepts. Embase, Medline, PsycInfo, Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane Central Register of Trials, Cinahl Plus, Econlit and Google Scholar were systematically searched for articles from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2019. Eligible articles were peer-reviewed studies that assessed the impact of caregiving for informal caregivers of adults with a reported mental disorder by means of a questionnaire. The complete study protocol can be found on PROSPERO (CRD42020157300). A total of 144 questionnaires were identified that assessed the impact of caregiving. Based on similarities in meaning, concepts were classified into 15 concept clusters. The most frequently assessed concept clusters were mental health, caregiving burden, other caregiving consequences, family impact, and overall health-related outcomes. The use of concept clusters differed per diagnosis group, with diagnoses, such as schizophrenia, using a wide range of caregiving impact concepts and other diagnoses, such as personality disorders, only using a limited range of concepts. This is the first study that identified and reviewed the concepts and questionnaires that are used to assess the impact of caregiving. Caregiving is researched from a broad array of perspectives, with the identification of a variety of concepts and dimensions and use of non-specific questionnaires. Despite increasing interest in this field of research, a high degree of variability remains abundant with limited consensus. This can partially be accredited to differences in the naming of concepts. Ultimately, this review can serve as a reference to researchers who wish to assess the impact of caregiving and require further insight into concepts and their respective questionnaires.

Discursively framing physicians as leaders: Institutional work to reconfigure medical professionalism.

Physicians are well-known for safeguarding medical professionalism by performing institutional work in their daily practices. However, this study shows how opinion-making physicians in strategic arenas (i.e. national professional bodies, conferences and high-impact journals) advocate to reform medical professionalism by discursively framing physicians as leaders. The aim of this article is to critically investigate the use of leadership discourse by these opinion-making physicians. By performing a discursive analysis of key documents produced in these strategic arenas and additional observations of national conferences, this article investigates how leadership discourse is used and to what purpose. The following key uses of medical leadership discourses were identified: (1) regaining the lead in medical professionalism, (2) disrupting 'old' professional values, and (3) constructing the 'modern' physician. The analysis reveals that physicians as 'leaders' are expected to become team-players that work across disciplinary and organizational boundaries to improve the quality and affordability of care. In comparison to management that is negatively associated with NPM reform, leadership discourse is linked to positive institutional change, such as decentralization and integration of care. Yet, it is unclear to what extent leadership discourses are actually incorporated on the work floor and to what effect. Future studies could therefore investigate the uptake of leadership discourses by rank and file physicians to investigate whether leadership discourses are used in restricting or empowering ways.

Unravelling complex primary-care programs to maintain independent living in older people: a systematic overview.

OBJECTIVES: Complex interventions are criticized for being a "black box", which makes it difficult to determine why they succeed or fail. Recently, nine proactive primary-care programs aiming to prevent functional decline in older adults showed inconclusive effects. The aim of this study was to systematically unravel, compare, and synthesize the development and evaluation of nine primary-care programs within a controlled trial to further improve the development and evaluation of complex interventions. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A systematic overview of all written data on the nine proactive primary-care programs was conducted using a validated item list. The nine proactive primary-care programs involved 214 general practices throughout the Netherlands. RESULTS: There was little or no focus on the (1) context surrounding the care program, (2) modeling of processes and outcomes, (3) intervention fidelity and adaptation, and (4) content and evaluation of training for interventionists. CONCLUSIONS: An in-depth analysis of the context, modeling of the processes and outcomes, measurement and reporting of intervention fidelity, and implementation of effective training for interventionists is needed to enhance the development and replication of future complex interventions.

Medical leaders or masters?-A systematic review of medical leadership in hospital settings.

Medical leadership is increasingly considered as crucial for improving the quality of care and the sustainability of healthcare. However, conceptual clarity is lacking in the literature and in practice. Therefore, a systematic review of the scientific literature was conducted to reveal the different conceptualizations of medical leadership in terms of definitions, roles and activities, and personal-and context-specific features. Eight databases were systematically searched for eligible studies, including empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals that included physicians carrying out a manager or leadership role in a hospital setting. Finally, 34 articles were included and their findings were synthesized and analyzed narratively. Medical leadership is conceptualized in literature either as physicians with formal managerial roles or physicians who act as informal 'leaders' in daily practices. In both forms, medical leaders must carry out general management and leadership activities and acts to balance between management and medicine, because these physicians must accomplish both organizational and medical staff objectives. To perform effectively, credibility among medical peers appeared to be the most important factor, followed by a scattered list of fields of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Competing logics, role ambiguity and a lack of time and support were perceived as barriers. However, the extent to which physicians must master all elicited features, remains ambiguous. Furthermore, the extent to which medical leadership entails a shift or a reallocation of tasks that are at the core of medical professional work remains unclear. Future studies should implement stronger research designs in which more theory is used to study the effect of medical leadership on professional work, medical staff governance, and subsequently, the quality and efficiency of care.

Cost-effectiveness of the 'Walcheren Integrated Care Model' intervention for community-dwelling frail elderly.

BACKGROUND: An important aim of integrated care for frail elderly is to generate more cost-effective health care. However, empirical research on the cost-effectiveness of integrated care for community-dwelling frail elderly is limited. OBJECTIVE: This study reports on the cost-effectiveness of the Walcheren Integrated Care Model (WICM) after 12 months from a societal perspective. METHODS: The design of this study was quasi-experimental. In total, 184 frail elderly patients from 3 GP practices that implemented the WICM were compared with 193 frail elderly patients of 5 GP practices that provided care as usual. Effects were determined by health-related quality of life (EQ-5D questionnaire). Costs were assessed based on questionnaires, GP files, time registrations and reports from multidisciplinary meetings. Average costs and effects were compared using t-tests. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated, and bootstrap methods were used to determine its reliability. RESULTS: Neither the WICM nor care as usual resulted in a change in health-related quality of life. The average total costs of the WICM were higher than care as usual (17089 euros versus 15189 euros). The incremental effects were 0.00, whereas the incremental costs were 1970 euros, indicating an ICER of 412450 euros. CONCLUSIONS: The WICM is not cost-effective, and the costs per quality-adjusted life year are high. The costs of the integrated care intervention do not outweigh the limited effects on health-related quality of life after 12 months. More analyses of the cost-effectiveness of integrated care for community-dwelling frail elderly are recommended as well as consideration of the specific costs and effects.

Creating advantages through franchising in healthcare: a qualitative, multiple embedded case study on the role of the business format.

BACKGROUND: Business format franchising is an organizational form that originates from the business sector. It is increasingly used in healthcare, being a promising organizational form for improving the competitiveness and efficiency of organizations, the quality of care, and the professional work environment. However, evidence is lacking concerning how these healthcare franchises should be designed to actually deliver the promised benefits. This study explores how the design of the central element in franchising, the business format (i.e., brand name, support systems, specification of the products and services), helps or hinders the achievement of positive results. METHODS: A qualitative comparative embedded case study was conducted. The cases focused on three Dutch healthcare franchises providing mental healthcare, hospital care and care for the intellectually disabled. The data were collected through document analyses, observations, and 96 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with franchisors and unit actors (franchisees, unit managers, professionals). The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. A conceptual model based on a systematic review of studies in other industries was used as an initial method for coding the data. New inductive codes were used to enrich and extend the analysis. The data were subjected to within-case and cross-case comparative thematic analyses. RESULTS: Different business format designs have different effects on results, as perceived by franchisors and unit actors. The analysis revealed how this variation in perceived effects can be explained by different dynamics with regard to system-wide adaptation, local adaptation, professionals' resistance to change, ease of knowledge sharing, bureaucracy, overhead, uniform brand presentation, accelerating effects and reliable performance levels. The analysis resulted in a new typology of four types of business formats, showing how combinations of business format elements facilitate or hinder the achievement of different types of results. CONCLUSIONS: Practitioners using healthcare franchising as a model to improve client-related, strategic, organizational and professional results should carefully consider how to design their business format in order to facilitate the achievement of desired results. The developed typology can be used as a starting point for these practitioners and as a basis for future scholarly research. Further quantitative research is recommended to confirm the results.

Is franchising in health care valuable? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Franchising is an organizational form that originates from the business sector. It is increasingly used in the healthcare sector with the aim of enhancing quality and accessibility for patients, improving the efficiency and competitiveness of organizations and/or providing professionals with a supportive working environment. However, a structured overview of the scientific evidence for these claims is absent, whereas such an overview can be supportive to scholars, policy makers and franchise practitioners. METHODS: This article provides a systematic review of literature on the outcomes of franchising in health care. Seven major databases were systematically searched. Peer-reviewed empirical journal articles focusing on the relationship between franchising and outcomes were included. Eventually, 15 articles were included and their findings were narratively synthesized. The level of evidence was rated by using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation scale. RESULTS: The review shows that outcomes of franchising in health care have primarily been evaluated in low- and middle-income countries in the reproductive health/family planning sector. Articles about high-income countries are largely absent, apart from three articles evaluating pharmacy franchises. Most studies focus on outcomes for customers/clients and less on organizations and professionals. The evidence is primarily of low quality. Based on this evidence, franchising is predominantly positively associated with client volumes, physical accessibility and some types of quality. Findings regarding utilization, customer loyalty, efficiency and results for providers are mixed. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that franchising has the potential to improve outcomes in healthcare practices, but the evidence base is yet too weak for firm conclusions. Extensive research is needed to further determine the value of healthcare franchising in various contexts. We advocate more research in other healthcare sectors in both low- and middle-income countries and high-income countries, on more types of outcomes with attention to trade-offs, and on what factors produce those outcomes.

Hospital rates of thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke: the influence of organizational culture.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if organizational culture explains differences in rates of intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke between different hospitals. METHODS: A cohort study was done in 12 centers admitting 5515 consecutive patients with acute stroke in The Netherlands. A multilevel logistic regression model was used to relate the likelihood of treatment with thrombolysis to characteristics of the organizational culture of the centers. Organizational culture was defined by 10 characteristics and scored by a panel. A sum score was created by adding all scores and dividing by 10. RESULTS: Thrombolysis rates varied from 5.7% to 21.7%. We observed an association between thrombolysis and the availability of informal and formal feedback (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.09 to 1.28); a learning culture (OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.23); uncompromising, individual clinical leadership (OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.23); explicit goals (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.17); and with the sum score (OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.23). CONCLUSIONS: Several cultural characteristics of the hospital organization are related to thrombolysis rate. Organizational culture may be an important target for interventions aimed at increasing rates of thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke in hospitals.