Can social network analysis contribute to supply chain management? A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis.

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a modeling technique and analytical approach well-suited for identifying and examining the structural features of supply networks and the patterns of connections between members within the network. This paper aims to present a systematic review and bibliometric analysis by investigating network structural properties and metrics in supply chain management (SCM) research. The approach involved combining a systematic literature review with a bibliometric analysis, forming a two-part methodology to examine 113 articles published between 2008 and 2023 in 62 journals. Our systematic thematic analysis reveals how SCM researchers have applied SNA techniques in terms of the reported node-level and network-level structural metrics, including network configuration description metrics, centrality measures, supply network subgroups, and models of supply network structure and formation. We identify the gaps in the existing body of literature and propose potential directions for future research. By quantitatively analyzing, classifying, and visualizing bibliographic data of previous studies, this paper provides further insights into the application of network structural properties in SCM research. Furthermore, our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the significance of the supply network's relational structure and configuration. Considering the disruptions to global supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian War, our findings can contribute to a better understanding of strategic supply network design.

Patient centered care in primary health care teleconsultations: an exploratory study.

With the current evolution of health digitalization driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected that teleconsultations - specifically, synchronous audio consultations (by telephone) or video-based (video calls) between health professionals (Doctors and Nurses) and patients - will be more used in Primary Health Care. The provision of health care through teleconsultations must be evaluated by the quality management of health organizations to ensure that the needs of patients are met. For this reason, this study was carried out under the objective of identifying indicators to create a culture of Patient-Centered Care (PCC) in teleconsultations in Primary Health Care. The methodology followed was based on the Delphi method. The research aimed to analyze the suitability of 48 indicators (organized in Donabedian's quality dimensions) to assess the implementation of PCC in Primary Health Care. Despite all indicators were viewed as very important, the disparity in responses was significant. Future research should extend this study by involving other groups of experts (like academics who study the subject and members of patient associations).

Assessing equity and quality indicators for older people - Adaptation and validation of the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE) checklist for the Portuguese care context.

BACKGROUND: Development has promoted longer and healthier lives, but the rise in the proportion of older adults poses new challenges to health systems. Susceptibilities of older persons resulting from lower knowledge about services availability, health illiteracy, lower income, higher mental decline, or physical limitations need to be identified and monitored to assure the equity and quality of health care. The aim of this study was to develop equity indicators for the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE)-3 checklist and perform the first cross-cultural adaptation and validation of this checklist into Portuguese. METHODS: A scoping literature review of determinants or indicators of health (in)equity in the care of older people was performed. A total of 5 language experts and 18 health professionals were involved in the development and validation of the equity and quality indicators through expert opinion and focus groups. Data collected from focus groups was analyzed through directed or conventional content analysis. The usefulness of the indicators was assessed by analyzing the clinical records of 30 patients. RESULTS: The literature review revealed that there was a worldwide gap concerning equity indicators for older people primary health care. A structured and complete checklist composed of equity and quality indicators was obtained, validated and assessed. A significant number of non-screened quality or equity related potential occurrences that could have been avoided if the proposed indicators were implemented were detected. The percentage of non-registered indicators was 76.6% for quality and 96.7% for equity. CONCLUSIONS: Applying the proposed checklist will contribute to improve the monitoring of the clinical situation of vulnerable older people and the planning of medical and social actions directed at this group.

Perceptions of Patients and Physicians on Teleconsultation at Home for Diabetes Mellitus: Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most challenging diseases in the 21st century and is the sixth leading cause of death. Telemedicine has increasingly been implemented in the care of patients with DM. Although teleconsultations at home have shown to be more effective for inducing HbA1c reduction than other telemedicine options, before the 2019 coronavirus disease crisis, their use had been lagging behind. Studies on physicians' or patients' perceptions about telemedicine have been performed independently of each other, and very few have focused on teleconsultations. In a time of great pressure for health systems and when an important portion of health care has to be assured at a distance, obtaining insights about teleconsultations at home from the stakeholders directly involved in the health care interaction is particularly important. OBJECTIVE: The perceptions of patients and physicians about their intentions to use home synchronous teleconsultations for DM care are examined to identify drivers and barriers inherent to programs that involve home teleconsultations. METHODS: Two identical questionnaires integrating the technology acceptance model and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and assessing the confidence in information and communication technology use of patients and physicians were developed. Responses by patients (n=75) and physicians (n=68) were analyzed using canonical correlation analysis. RESULTS: Associations between predictor constructs (performance, effort, social influence, facilitating conditions, and attitude) and intention to use yielded significant functions, with a canonical R2 of 0.95 (for physicians) and 0.98 (patients). The main identified barriers to patient intention to use were the expected effort to explain the medical problem, and privacy and confidentiality issues. The major drivers were the facilitation of contact with the physician, which is beneficial to patient disease management and treatment, time savings, and reciprocity concerning physicians' willingness to perform teleconsultations. Responses from physicians revealed an association between intention to use and the expected performance of home teleconsultations. The major barrier to intention to use expressed in physicians' answers was doubts concerning the quality of patient examination. The major drivers were time savings, productivity increases, improvements in patient's health and patient management, National Health System costs reduction, and reciprocity relative to patients' willingness to engage in teleconsultations. CONCLUSIONS: To promote the use of home teleconsultations for DM, decision makers should improve patients' health literacy so the physician-patient communication is more effective; explore information and communication technology developments to reduce current limitations of non-face-to-face examinations; ensure patient privacy and data confidentiality; and demonstrate the capabilities of home teleconsultations to physicians.

Potential of a nurse telephone triage line to direct elderly to appropriate health care settings.

AIM: To explore the potential of a nurse health triage telephone line to advise and guide elderly users' decisions regarding the appropriate health care setting and self-care. BACKGROUND: Ageing is a concern in many countries and poses challenges to health care services. Triage and advice lines can play an important role for the (re)organisation of health care delivery. Discussion has been focused on the capacity of these lines to reduce inappropriate demand for acute and emergency departments. METHODS: Cross-sectional descriptive analysis. RESULTS: Nurses directed elders to a health care service both by downgrading their initial intentions (concurring to the most common objective) and by upgrading them (e.g., directing elders that intended to stay at home to acute and emergency care). The intention to comply with the nurse's disposition was high. CONCLUSIONS: The line helped to improve the appropriateness of acute and emergency care demand and to reduce the overall demand for care by elders. There is nonetheless space for improvement given the underuse of the line by elders. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Health telephone-based triage and advice should be promoted to increase the match between the needs of elderly patients and health resources, thus improving health equity.

A hybrid approach for integrated healthcare cooperative purchasing and supply chain configuration.

This paper presents an innovative and flexible approach for recommending the number, size and composition of purchasing groups, for a set of hospitals willing to cooperate, while minimising their shared supply chain costs. This approach makes the financial impact of the various cooperation alternatives transparent to the group and the individual participants, opening way to a negotiation process concerning the allocation of the cooperation costs and gains. The approach was developed around a hybrid Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS)/Tabu Search metaheuristic, resulting in a flexible tool that can be applied to purchasing groups with different characteristics, namely different operative and market circumstances, and to supply chains with different topologies and atypical cost characteristics. Preliminary computational results show the potential of the approach in solving a broad range of problems.