Situations of anomie and the health workforce crisis: Policy implications of a socially sensitive and inclusive approach to human resources.

Health systems in most jurisdictions are facing an unprecedented workforce crisis, manifesting as labour shortages, high staff turnover, and increasing rates of absenteeism and burnout. These issues affect professional and occupational groups in both health and social care and individuals at early and later stages of their career. The intensity and pervasiveness of the crisis suggests that it is a multicausal phenomenon. Studies have focused on the relationship between working environments and worker satisfaction and well-being. However, these are of limited use in understanding the deeper mechanisms behind the large-scale workforce crisis. The subjective experience of work, while rooted in a particular work context, is also shaped by broader social and cultural phenomena that put social norms and individuals' ability to conform to them in tension. The concept of anomie, initially developed by Durkheim and redefined by Merton, focuses on the way social norms that guide conduct and aspirations lose influence and become incompatible with each other or unsuited to contemporary work contexts. Understanding the workforce crisis from the perspective of anomie enables the development and implementation of novel policies based on co-production strategies where concerned publics engage collaboratively in framing the problem and searching for solutions.

Implementation of the Acute Care for Elders Strategy to Improve the Quality of Care Transitions in Quebec and Ontario: a Retrospective Multiple Case Study.

Background: In 2016, two Canadian hospitals participated in a quality improvement (QI) program, the International Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Collaborative, and sought to adapt and implement a transition coach intervention (TCI). Both hospitals were challenged to provide optimal continuity of care for an increasing number of older adults. The two hospitals received initial funding, coaching, educational materials, and tools to adapt the TCI to their local contexts, but the QI project teams achieved different results. We aimed to compare the implementation of the ACE TCI in these two Canadian hospitals to identify the factors influencing the adaptation of the intervention to the local contexts and to understand their different results. Methods: We conducted a retrospective multiple case study, including documentary analysis, 21 semi-structured individual interviews, and two focus groups. We performed thematic analysis using a hybrid inductive-deductive approach. Results: Both hospitals met initial organizational goals to varying degrees. Our qualitative analysis highlighted certain factors that were critical to the effective implementation and achievement of the QI project goals: the magnitude of changes and adaptations to the initial intervention; the organizational approaches to the QI project implementation, management, and monitoring; the organizational context; the change management strategies; the ongoing health system reform and organizational restructuring. Our study also identified other key factors for successful care transition QI projects: minimal adaptation to the original evidence-based intervention; use of a collaborative, bottom-up approach; use of a theoretical model to support sustainability; support from clinical and organizational leadership; a strong organizational culture for QI; access to timely quality measures; financial support; use of a knowledge management platform; and involvement of an integrated research team and expert guidance. Conclusion: Many of the lessons learned and strategies identified from our analysis will help clinicians, managers, and policymakers better address the issues and challenges of adapting evidence-based innovations in care transitions for older adults to local contexts.

Equilibrium in the governance of cross-sectoral policies: how does it translate into practice?

BACKGROUND: There is growing interest from health researchers in the governance of Health in All Policies (HiAP). Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has re-ignited managers' interest in HiAP governance and in health prevention activities that involve actors from outside health ministries. Since the dynamics of these multi-actor, multi-sectoral policies are complex, the use of systems theory is a promising avenue toward understanding and improving HiAP governance. We focus on the concept of equilibrium within systems theory, especially as it points to the need to strike a balance between actors that goes beyond synergies or mimicry-a balance that is essential to HiAP governance. METHOD: We mobilized two sources of data to understand how the concept of equilibrium applies to HiAP governance. First, we reviewed the literature on existing frameworks for collaborative governance, both in general and for HiAP specifically, in order to extract equilibrium-related elements. Second, we conducted an in-depth case study over three years of an HiAP implemented in Quebec, Canada. RESULTS: In total, we identified 12 equilibrium-related elements relevant to HiAP governance and related to knowledge, actors, learning, mindsets, sustainability, principles, coordination, funding and roles. The equilibria were both operational and conceptual in nature. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that policy makers and policy implementers could benefit from mobilizing these 12 equilibrium-related elements to enhance HiAP governance. Evaluators of HiAP may also want to consider and integrate them into their governance assessments.

Employee-Driven Innovation in Health Organizations: Insights From a Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Employee-driven innovation (EDI) occurs when frontline actors in health organizations use their firsthand experience to spur new ideas to transform care. Despite its increasing prevalence in health organizations, the organizational conditions under which EDI is operationalized have received little scholarly attention. METHODS: This scoping review identifies gaps and assembles existing knowledge on four questions: What is EDI in health organizations and which frontline actors are involved? What are the characteristics of the EDI process? What contextual factors enable or impede EDI? And what benefits does EDI bring to health organizations? We searched seven databases with keywords related to EDI in health organizations. After screening 1580 studies by title and abstract, we undertook full-text review of 453 articles, retaining 60 for analysis. We performed a descriptive and an inductive thematic analysis guided by the four questions. RESULTS: Findings reveal an heterogeneous literature. Most articles are descriptive (n = 41). Few studies are conceptual and empirical (n = 15) and four are conference papers. EDI was often described as a participatory, learning innovation process involving frontline clinical and non-clinical staff and managers. Majority EDI were top-down, often driven by the organization's focus on participatory improvement and innovation and research-based initiatives. Five categories of methods is used in top-down EDI, two thirds of which includes a learning, a team and/or a digital component. Hybrid EDI often involves a team-based component. Bottom-up EDI emerged spontaneously from the work of frontline actors. Enablers, barriers, and benefits of EDI are seen at macro, organizational, team and individual levels; some benefits spread to other health organizations and health systems. CONCLUSION: This scoping review provides a comprehensive understanding of the organizational conditions under which EDI is operationalized. It offers insights for researchers, health organizations, and policy-makers about how and why frontline actors' involvement is crucial for the transformation of care.

Web-based comparative study of some national experiences of health care quality management.

Since the publication of study results on adverse events to health care in OECD countries, the importance of the national quality improvement strategies has been recognised. To examine how these strategies have been shaped in different jurisdictions, we carried out this study. We conducted a web-based comparative study of international practices. We first defined seven key health care and services quality management functions. We then drew on the experience of authors to make a reasoned selection of 13 countries or states across the world. We determined the distance that separates each of these functions from a country's Ministry of Health (MoH); and examined whether these functions are concentrated in a single organisation or dispersed across several organisations. Afterwards, we correlated our results with the quality level of these countries based on the OECD's health care indicators. Overall, Netherlands, Québec (Canada), Korea, Germany, England (UK), and the United States had at least 50% of their quality management functions controlled by self-regulated organisations. The Market Concentration Index ranged from 937 for the United States to 6800 for Russia. Graphical representation has shown us two health system models. Our results also clearly showed that countries had a better quality of care most often when they belong to model 1 of our taxonomy. These findings will help countries design and implement large-scale health care and services quality strategies for better and safer health care and services.

Evaluation of an interprofessional primary healthcare team as a new model of primary care in Quebec: a protocol for a type 2 effectiveness-implementation hybrid study.

INTRODUCTION: One family medicine group (FMG) in Quebec has commenced a 5-year pilot project, which is herein referred to as the Archimède model, to implement a patient-centred model based on interprofessional care and the optimal use of healthcare providers' practice scopes. A research project will be conducted to: (1) assess this model's effect on the FMG's operational performance, and its users' resource utilisation at the public health system level; (2) investigate its optimisation with respect to professional roles, interprofessional teamwork and patient-centredness and (3) document users' experience with the model. The aim of this article is to describe the protocol that will be used for this research. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A hybrid implementation approach (type 2 model) will be used. We will collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Regarding the quantitative dimension, and because this is a single-unit intervention study, we will use either or both synthetic control methods and one-sample generalised linear models for analyses at the FMG level. To evaluate the broader impact of Archimède on the public health system, we will use mixed-effects models and propensity score matching methods. Regarding the qualitative research dimension, using an interpretative descriptive approach, we will document users' experience and identify the factors that optimise professional scopes of practice, collaborative practices and patient-centredness. We will conduct individual in-depth semistructured interviews with healthcare providers, administrative staff, stakeholders involved in the Archimède model implementation and patients. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Sectoral Research in Population Health and Primary Care of the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux de la Capitale-Nationale (#2019-1503). The results of the investigation will be presented to the stakeholders involved in the advisory committees and at several scientific conferences. Manuscripts will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals.

How can entrepreneurs experience inform responsible health innovation policies? A longitudinal case study in Canada and Brazil.

AIM: To foster equity and make health systems economically and environmentally more sustainable, Responsible Innovation in Health (RIH) calls for policy changes advocated by mission-oriented innovation policies. These policies focus, however, on instruments to foster the supply of innovations and neglect health policies that affect their uptake. Our study's aim is to inform policies that can support RIH by gaining insights into RIH-oriented entrepreneurs' experience with the policies that influence both the supply of, and the demand for their innovations. METHODS: We recruited 16 for-profit and not-for-profit organisations engaged in the production of RIH in Brazil and Canada in a longitudinal multiple case study. Our dataset includes three rounds of interviews (n = 48), self-reported data, and fieldnotes. We performed qualitative thematic analyses to identify across-cases patterns. FINDINGS: RIH-oriented entrepreneurs interact with supply side policies that support technology-led solutions because of their economic potential but that are misaligned with societal challenge-led solutions. They navigate demand side policies where market approval and physician incentives largely condition the uptake of technology-led solutions and where emerging policies bring some support to societal challenge-led solutions. Academic intermediaries that bridge supply and demand side policies may facilitate RIH, but our findings point to an overall lack of policy directionality that limits RIH. CONCLUSION: As mission-oriented innovation policies aim to steer innovation towards the tackling of societal challenges, they call for a major shift in the public sector's role. A comprehensive mission-oriented policy approach to RIH requires policy instruments that can align, orchestrate, and reconcile health priorities with a renewed understanding of innovation-led economic development.

Comparing Health Workforce Policy during a Major Global Health Crisis: A Critical Conceptual Debate and International Empirical Investigation.

BACKGROUND: The health workforce is central to healthcare systems and population health, but marginal in comparative health policy. This study aims to highlight the crucial relevance of the health workforce and contribute comparative evidence to help improve the protection of healthcare workers and prevention of inequalities during a major public health crisis. METHODS: Our integrated governance framework considers system, sector, organizational and socio-cultural dimensions of health workforce policy. The COVID-19 pandemic serves as the policy field and Brazil, Canada, Italy, and Germany as illustrative cases. We draw on secondary sources (literature, document analysis, public statistics, reports) and country expert information with a focus on the first COVID-19 waves until the summer of 2021. RESULTS: Our comparative investigation illustrates the benefits of a multi-level governance approach beyond health system typologies. In the selected countries, we found similar problems and governance gaps concerning increased workplace stress, lack of mental health support, and gender and racial inequalities. Health policy across countries failed to adequately respond to the needs of HCWs, thus exacerbating inequalities during a major global health crisis. CONCLUSIONS: Comparative health workforce policy research may contribute new knowledge to improve health system resilience and population health during a crisis.

Health reforms and policy capacity: the Canadian experience.

Recent work on health system strengthening suggests that a combination of leadership and policy capacity is essential to achieve transformation and improvement. Policy capacity and leadership are mutually constitutive but difficult to assemble in a coherent and consistent way. Our paper relies on the nested model of policy capacity to empirically explore how health reformers in seven Canadian provinces address the question of policy capacity. More specifically, we look at emerging representations of policy capacity within the context of health reforms between 1990 and 2020. Based on the exploration of the scientific and grey literature (legislation, annual reports of Ministries, agencies and organizations, meeting minutes, press, etc.) and interviews with key informants (n = 54), we identify how policy capacity is considered and framed within health reforms A series of core dilemmas emerge from attempts by each province to develop policy capacity for and through health reforms.

Strategizing Research for Impact.

In its Strategic Plan 2021-2026, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research - Institute of Health Services and Policy Research (IHSPR) convincingly expresses its desire to expand capacity for applied health services and policy research (HSPR) and better mobilize research results for health system transformation geared toward the Quadruple Aim and health equity for all (CIHR IHSPR 2021). These strategic priorities echo views widely shared within the HSPR community, and we commend IHSPR for its leadership and vision. Recognizing the systemic challenges ahead of us, this commentary considers the HSPR community's capacity to achieve the promise of learning health systems, given the obstacles likely to hinder their rapid scale-up over the next five years. Next, we consider the spread of virtual care during the pandemic to illustrate the embedded and negotiated nature of innovation in health systems and the need for vigilance as to the social distribution of their benefits and costs. Finally, a critical review of the strategic plan provides insights into how research is governed in the HSPR field. Based on this analysis, it appears essential to reconsider health system transformation as social system transformation and strengthen interdisciplinary and comparative research. Looking forward, developing a science of science to better understand the conditions associated with high-impact research should be a cross-cutting priority for Canada's HSPR community.

Assessing the Quality of Direct-to-Consumer Teleconsultation Services in Canada.

The objective of this study was to describe and assess the quality of the direct-to-consumer medical teleconsultation landscape in three Canadian provinces. An environmental scan of primary care teleconsultation platforms was conducted in January 2022 to identify medical teleconsultation platforms in Quebec (Qc), Ontario, and British Columbia (BC). The quality of each teleconsultation platform was assessed using a modified version of the HONcode principles. Nineteen different direct-to-consumer medical teleconsultation platforms were identified across the three provinces. The quality of these teleconsultation platforms was very heterogeneous. The landscape of virtual primary care is changing rapidly in the Canadian ecosystem, and the transparency of current teleconsultation platforms could be improved.

Exploring expectations and assumptions in the public and patient engagement literature: A meta-narrative review.

OBJECTIVES: Public and patient engagement (PPE) is increasingly recognized in policy statements as essential to achieving transformation towards patient-centred, value-based, integrated care. Despite extensive research over two decades, important gaps and questions remain around how the efforts invested in engagement drive the changes needed to meet these objectives. METHODS: We conducted a meta-narrative review of systematic and scoping reviews to understand persistent difficulties and uncertainties in this research domain. Thirty-eight reviews looking at studies of PPE in care, healthcare organizations and systems were appraised. We synthesized the expectations of PPE that prompted each review, the guiding ideas about how PPE comes about, main findings and the questions and gaps they raise. RESULTS: Four storylines are found in reviews: 1. Terminology is inconsistent and concepts are weak; 2. Outcomes of care can be improved 3. Influence on healthcare delivery and design is uncertain; 4. Characteristics of engagement efforts are consequential. DISCUSSION AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Three assumptions underlie these storylines and appear as barriers to practice and research; alternative approaches based on collaborative governance and theories of change are proposed to understand and support engagement with transformative potential.

Network-building by community actors to develop capacities for coproduction of health services following reforms: A case study.

INTRODUCTION: Responsive, integrated and sustainable health systems require that communities take an active role in service design and delivery. Much of the current literature focuses on provider-led initiatives to gain community input, raising concerns about power imbalances inherent in invited forms of participation. This paper provides an alternate view, exploring how, in a period following reforms, community actors forge network alliances to (re)gain legitimacy and capacities to coproduce health services with system providers. METHODS: A longitudinal case study traced the network-building efforts over 3 years of a working group formed by citizens and community actors working with seniors, minorities, recent immigrants, youth and people with disabilities. The group came together over concerns about reforms that impacted access to health services and the ability of community groups to mediate access for vulnerable community residents. Data were collected from observation of the group's meetings and activities, documents circulated within and by the group, and semi-directed interviews. The first stage of analysis used social network mapping to reveal the network development achieved by the working group; a second traced network maturation, based on actor-network theory. RESULTS: Network mapping revealed how the working group mobilized existing links and created new links with health system actors to explore access issues. Problematization appeared as an especially important stage in network development in the context of reforms that disrupted existing collaborative relationships and introduced new structures and processes. CONCLUSION: Network-building strategies enable community actors to enhance their capacity for coproduction. A key contribution lies in the creation of 'organizational infrastructure'. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: The lead researcher was embedded over 3 years in the activities of the community groups and community residents. Several group members provided comments on an initial draft of this paper. To preserve the anonymity of the group, their names do not appear in the acknowledgements section.

Interprofessional collaboration and health policy: results from a Quebec mixed method legal research.

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is central to effective care. This practice is structured by an array of laws, regulations and policies but the literature on their impact on IPC is scarce. This study aims to illustrate the gap between the texts and clinicians' knowledge of the legal framework using an anonymous web-based survey. The survey, sent to nurses and physicians in Quebec, Canada, focused on the IPC legal framework, legal knowledge sources and IPC perceptions or beliefs. The primary outcome was to determine the gap between the law and understanding of the law. The secondary outcome was to identify legal knowledge sources for clinicians in Quebec. A total of 267 participants filled in the survey. For knowledge acquisition, 40% of physicians turned to insurers whereas 43% of nurses turned to their regulatory body. Only 30% of physicians correctly identified what activity is reserved for physicians while 39% of nurses correctly identified their reserved activity. Regarding legal perceptions, 28% of physicians and 39% of nurses thought IPC could increase their liability. These participants have a higher tendency to name liability-related issues as barriers to IPC. These results show an important discrepancy between clinicians' knowledge about law and policies, and the actual texts themselves. This gap can lead to misinterpretations of the law by clinicians, ineffective policy changes by policymakers and can perpetuate ineffective implementation of IPC.

Leadership configuration in crises: Lessons from the English response to COVID-19.

Our study examines the empirical case of the political leadership response to Covid-19 in England. It shows that, rather than the ideal configuration of leadership suggested by theory, within which individualistic and collective leadership blend, a less balanced configuration emerged that can be characterised as incoherent. In England, an individual political leader behaved in an authoritarian way, which ignored evidence about how to address Covid-19. So, rather than an individual orchestrating a collective leadership effort to address complex issues, leadership was rendered fragmented and chaotic. We suggest that the English context, characterised by populist tendencies and neoliberal economic policy, shaped the poor leadership response to Covid-19.

Appropriating integrated performance management tools in healthcare: a sociomaterial work story.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to explore the appropriation of control rooms based on value-based integrated performance management tools implemented in all publicly funded health organizations in Quebec (Canada) as a form of legitimate sociomaterial work. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Multi-site organizational ethnographic case studies in two Integrated health and social services centers, with narrative process analysis of triangulated qualitative data collected through non-participant observation (163 h), individual semi-structured interviews (N = 34), and document review (N = 143). FINDINGS: Three types of legitimate sociomaterial work are accomplished when actors appropriate control rooms: 1) reformulating performance management work; 2) disrupting accountability work and; 3) effecting value-based integrated performance management. Each actor (tools, institutions and people) follows recurrent institutional work-paths: tools consistently engage in disruptive work; institutions consistently engage in maintaining work, and people consistently engage in creation work. The study reveals the potential of performance management tools as "effective integrators" of the technological, managerial, policy and delivery levels of data-driven health system performance and improvement. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This paper draws on theoretically informed empirical insights to develop actionable knowledge around how to better design, implement and adapt tool-driven health system change: 1) Packaging the three agents of data-driven system change in health care: tools, institutions, people; 2) Redefining the search for performance in health care in the context of value creation, and; 3) Strengthening clinical and managerial relevance in health performance management practice. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The authors aim to stimulate new and original scholarship around the under-theorized concept of sociomaterial work, challenging theoretical, ontological and practical conceptions of work in healthcare organizations and beyond.

Field of practice: LARIISA: smart digital solutions to support decision-making in Family Health Strategy management. / LARIISA: soluções digitais inteligentes para apoio à tomada de decisão na gestão da Estratégia de Saúde da Família.

The LARIISA collaborators group has been conducting research and development of technological solutions to support decision-making in health systems since 2009. GISSA, a cloud system resulting from the scientific and technological evolution of the LARIISA project, is among the solutions produced. This paper aims to describe the developing trend of GISSA©, a technological tool supporting the Family Health Strategy in northeastern Brazil, pointing out challenges, paths, and potentialities. This is a descriptive and exploratory study, based on secondary sources from the IBGE, INMET, SINAN, SIM, and SINASC, with quantitative analysis based on machine-learning techniques applied to create digital health microservices. Operating in the northeast and southeast regions, GISSA© provides information that qualifies health managers' decision-making process, improving the municipal health system's management.

O grupo de colaboradores do LARIISA realiza pesquisa e desenvolvimento de soluções tecnológicas para apoio à tomada de decisão em sistemas de saúde desde 2009. Dentre as soluções produzidas está o GISSA®, sistema em nuvem resultado da evolução científica e tecnológica do projeto LARIISA. O objetivo do presente artigo é descrever a trajetória de evolução do GISSA®, ferramenta tecnológica que apoia a Estratégia de Saúde da Família no nordeste do Brasil, apontando desafios, caminhos e potencialidades. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo e exploratório, baseado em fontes secundárias do IBGE, INMET, SINAN, SIM e SINASC, com análise quantitativa a partir de modelos de aprendizagem de máquina aplicados na criação de microserviços em saúde digital. Operando nas regiões nordeste e sudeste, o GISSA® disponibiliza informações que qualificam o processo de tomada de decisão de gestores de saúde e, consequentemente, contribui para aperfeiçoar a gestão do sistema de saúde municipal.

LARIISA: soluções digitais inteligentes para apoio à tomada de decisão na gestão da Estratégia de Saúde da Família / Field of practice: LARIISA: smart digital solutions to support decision-making in Family Health Strategy management

Resumo O grupo de colaboradores do LARIISA realiza pesquisa e desenvolvimento de soluções tecnológicas para apoio à tomada de decisão em sistemas de saúde desde 2009. Dentre as soluções produzidas está o GISSA®, sistema em nuvem resultado da evolução científica e tecnológica do projeto LARIISA. O objetivo do presente artigo é descrever a trajetória de evolução do GISSA®, ferramenta tecnológica que apoia a Estratégia de Saúde da Família no nordeste do Brasil, apontando desafios, caminhos e potencialidades. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo e exploratório, baseado em fontes secundárias do IBGE, INMET, SINAN, SIM e SINASC, com análise quantitativa a partir de modelos de aprendizagem de máquina aplicados na criação de microserviços em saúde digital. Operando nas regiões nordeste e sudeste, o GISSA® disponibiliza informações que qualificam o processo de tomada de decisão de gestores de saúde e, consequentemente, contribui para aperfeiçoar a gestão do sistema de saúde municipal.

Abstract The LARIISA collaborators group has been conducting research and development of technological solutions to support decision-making in health systems since 2009. GISSA, a cloud system resulting from the scientific and technological evolution of the LARIISA project, is among the solutions produced. This paper aims to describe the developing trend of GISSA©, a technological tool supporting the Family Health Strategy in northeastern Brazil, pointing out challenges, paths, and potentialities. This is a descriptive and exploratory study, based on secondary sources from the IBGE, INMET, SINAN, SIM, and SINASC, with quantitative analysis based on machine-learning techniques applied to create digital health microservices. Operating in the northeast and southeast regions, GISSA© provides information that qualifies health managers' decision-making process, improving the municipal health system's management.

Control rooms in publicly-funded health systems: Reviving value in healthcare governance.

BACKGROUND: As part of reforms in 2015, the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Quebec, Canada mandated the national implementation of control rooms, making health system actors accountable for implementing value-based performance management. OBJECTIVE: To explore how do organizational actors appropriate control rooms as managerial tools to influence value-based performance in health systems. DESIGN: Multi-site organizational ethnographic case studies (N = 2) and narrative process analysis of triangulated qualitative data collected through non-participatory observations (179.5 h), individual semi-structured interviews (N = 34), and document review (N = 143). RESULTS: The process of appropriating control rooms plays a crucial role in achieving value-based performance management. Appropriating unfolds along three paths (cognitive, structural, technical) over three phases (implementing, testing, adapting). Implementing control rooms both produces and emerges from improvement capacities within healthcare organizations. Testing tools reveals that incompatibilities between tools, structures and values give rise to value-driven distributed clinical leadership. Adapting tools relies on the adaptability of organizations towards the value system driving the tools, rather than on the adaptability of tools to organizational design. CONCLUSION: There is no "one-size-fits-all" framework to design and support the successful appropriation of control rooms towards achieving value-based performance. However, we believe that consideration for the three distinct phases of appropriation and leveraging the right mechanism to support each phase is a first important step in reviving value in healthcare governance.