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Rational and participative task allocation between the nursing staff and the logistics support service provider in healthcare
Author(s) -
Kekkonen Päivi,
Pohjosenperä Timo,
Kantola Hannele,
Väyrynen Seppo
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
human factors and ergonomics in manufacturing and service industries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.408
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1520-6564
pISSN - 1090-8471
DOI - 10.1002/hfm.20728
Subject(s) - process management , health care , variety (cybernetics) , context (archaeology) , nursing , knowledge management , task (project management) , service provider , service (business) , work (physics) , business , action research , process (computing) , participatory action research , psychology , computer science , medicine , marketing , sociology , management , engineering , mechanical engineering , paleontology , mathematics education , artificial intelligence , anthropology , biology , economic growth , operating system , economics
This study aims to answer how rational task allocation between the nursing staff and the support service provider in the healthcare context can increase the positive outcome of the work system. The work system model is used as a theoretical framework, with resilience and cost as complementary concepts. This qualitative case study used action research and participatory design to develop the work system with the interplay of two parallel personnel groups in the healthcare environment. First, the case of an ongoing relationship between the target organization's nursing staff and in‐house logistics and material supply services was studied. The development process resulted in a variety of practical ideas to improve the cooperation between the personnel groups. In the second case, a prospective relationship between the nursing staff and an external logistics service provider was examined. This research's conceptual results identify the main characteristics of rational support services as comprehensive, resilient, reliable, and easily accessible.