1,721,046 research outputs found
Beyond the limits of clinical governance? The case of mental health in English primary care
Full text linkBackground. Little research attention has been given to attempts to implement organisational initiatives to improve quality of care for mental health care, where there is a high level of indeterminacy and clinical judgements are often contestable. This paper explores recent efforts made at an organisational level in England to improve the quality of primary care for people with mental health problems through the new institutional processes of 'clinical governance'. Methods. Framework analysis, based on the Normalisation Process Model (NPM), of attempts over a five year period to develop clinical governance for primary mental health services in Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). The data come from a longitudinal qualitative multiple case-study approach in a purposive sample of 12 PCTs, chosen to reflect a maximum variety of organisational contexts for mental health care provision. Results. The constant change within the English NHS provided a difficult context in which to attempt to implement 'clinical governance' or, indeed, to reconstruct primary mental health care. In the absence of clear evidence or direct guidance about what 'primary mental health care' should be, and a lack of actors with the power or skills to set about realising it, the actors in 'clinical governance' had little shared knowledge or understanding of their role in improving the quality of mental health care. There was a lack of ownership of 'mental health' as an integral, normalised part of primary care. Conclusion. Despite some achievements in regard to monitoring and standardisation of prescribing practice, mental health care in primary care seems to have so far largely eluded the gaze of 'clinical governance'. Clinical governance in English primary mental health care has not yet become normalised. We make some policy recommendations which we consider would assist in the process normalisation and suggest other contexts to which our findings might apply. © 2008 Gask et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd
A new role for the general practitioner? Reframing 'inappropriate attenders' to inappropriate services
No full textThis qualitative study describes the impact of deploying general practitioners (GPs) as primary care physicians (PCPs) in three Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments in Greater Manchester as part of a Health Action Zone initiative to promote integration of systems of care more responsive to the needs of inner city population groups. The setting was three Accident and Emergency Units in Greater Manchester. Semi-structured interviews with the PCPs and key A & E staff (n = 32) before the PCPs were deployed, then at intervals throughout the project. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. Transcripts were analysed using constant comparison to identify emerging themes. Key themes centred on the assumptions and negotiation surrounding the emerging roles of the PCPs (as seen by themselves and other staff), particularly the conflict between operational (day-to-day work with patients) and strategic (forward planning) roles. The PCP appeared to act as a catalyst for the view that patients were not presenting “inappropriately”, rather, the problems presented at A&E might be best dealt with in different parts of the healthcare system, or by different personnel, and it is the service currently available that is inappropriate. By deploying the GP in a new role as PCP, but with the traditional autonomy associated with being a GP, and allowing him/her to develop the role according to local need, the new service evolved to identify and meet the needs of patients more appropriately. The use of the expanded role of the GP may be more successful in achieving ‘joined-up’ services than deploying other professional groups, such as nurses, to fulfil a specific rol
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Healthcare access and mobility between the UK and other European Union states: an `implementation surplus'
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