Improving care coordination using organisational routines: Care pathways as a coordination mechanism

Thim Prætorius

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    9 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Purpose: This conceptual article systematically applies theory of organisational routines to standardised care pathways. The explanatory power of routines is used to address open questions in the care pathway literature about their coordinating and organising role, the way they change and can be replicated, the way they are influenced by the organisation and the way they influence health care professionals.

    Design/methodology/approach: Theory of routines is systematically applied to the concept of care pathways in order to develop theoretically derived propositions.

    Findings: Care pathways mirror routines by being recurrent, collective and embedded and specific to an organisation. In particular, care pathways resemble standard operating procedures that can give rise to recurrent collective action patterns. Eleven propositions related to five categories are proposed by building on these insights: care pathways and (a) coordination, (b) change, (c) replication, (d) the organisation and (e) health care professionals.

    Research limitations/implications: The article is conceptual and uses care pathways as illustrative instances of hospital routines. The propositions provide a starting point for empirical research.

    Practical implications: The analysis highlights implications that health care professionals and managers have to consider in relation to coordination, change, replication, the way the organisation influences care pathways and the way care pathways influence health care professionals.

    Originality/value: Theory on organisational routines offers fundamental, yet unexplored, insights into hospital processes, including in particular care coordination.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalJournal of Health, Organization and Management
    Volume30
    Issue number1
    Pages (from-to)85-108
    ISSN1477-7266
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2016

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