Measuring and managing the intellectual capital of the ageing workforce. Many employees are retiring prematurely, placing increasing strains on the social security system. Moreover, their accumulated competencies, expertise, and organisational corporate wisdom (intellectual capital) may be lost. There is a growing recognition that much of the wealth of organisations resides in their intellectual capital. This project will develop a methodology to measure intellectual capital and will increase un ....Measuring and managing the intellectual capital of the ageing workforce. Many employees are retiring prematurely, placing increasing strains on the social security system. Moreover, their accumulated competencies, expertise, and organisational corporate wisdom (intellectual capital) may be lost. There is a growing recognition that much of the wealth of organisations resides in their intellectual capital. This project will develop a methodology to measure intellectual capital and will increase understanding of how companies can retain it. Potential long-term benefits include more efficient management of intellectual capital and enhanced retention of mature workers, with consequent savings in social security. The project will be benchmarked against similar developments in other countries.Read moreRead less
Improving patient health outcomes in acute care hospital settings using mobile wireless technology and handheld computers. This project will investigate the use of wireless handheld computers, in three acute care clinical units located at Southern Health and the Royal Women's Hospital, to determine the impact on patient safety and quality of care. There is a need for real time point-of-care access (and input) to patient information, nursing reference information, and drug information for nurses ....Improving patient health outcomes in acute care hospital settings using mobile wireless technology and handheld computers. This project will investigate the use of wireless handheld computers, in three acute care clinical units located at Southern Health and the Royal Women's Hospital, to determine the impact on patient safety and quality of care. There is a need for real time point-of-care access (and input) to patient information, nursing reference information, and drug information for nurses in Australian hospitals. This project aims to address this need by providing nurses with wireless handheld access to such resources. This project is extremely significant, as the outcomes will provide nurses, in Australia and overseas, a set of guidelines for managing wireless handheld computers in clinical units, to enhance patient safety and quality of care.Read moreRead less
The Heart of Health Care: Advancing Emotional Well-being, Engagement and Performance in Hospitals. This research will improve our understanding of the drivers of effective health care delivery and will identify practical ways to improve the well-being, performance, retention and engagement of health care professionals and improve patient care, satisfaction and safety. In light of significant staffing shortages of health care professionals, the knowledge created will have substantial benefits in ....The Heart of Health Care: Advancing Emotional Well-being, Engagement and Performance in Hospitals. This research will improve our understanding of the drivers of effective health care delivery and will identify practical ways to improve the well-being, performance, retention and engagement of health care professionals and improve patient care, satisfaction and safety. In light of significant staffing shortages of health care professionals, the knowledge created will have substantial benefits in developing more effective models of quality care. In addition this research will enable health care professionals to build holistic, adaptable and multidisciplinary approaches to patient care in order to ensure a sustainable health care system for the future.Read moreRead less
Examinations of the relationship between accreditation and clinical and organisational performance. Accreditation of organisations is now commonplace. It involves assessing organisations against pre-defined standards. This is a highly significant issue because of the millions of dollars of investment in accreditation. We do not know if we achieve value for money or whether positive change is associated with accreditation. Few studies have examined this in detail. We aim to do so in this stud ....Examinations of the relationship between accreditation and clinical and organisational performance. Accreditation of organisations is now commonplace. It involves assessing organisations against pre-defined standards. This is a highly significant issue because of the millions of dollars of investment in accreditation. We do not know if we achieve value for money or whether positive change is associated with accreditation. Few studies have examined this in detail. We aim to do so in this study. We will examine organisational and individual performance associated with accreditation status in order to illuminate the process and uncover any associations between accreditation and organisational culture, consumer participation and clinical (individual) performance indicators.
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Investigating the Impact of Work Design on Productive Wellbeing in Mercy Health: The Modernising Third Sector. Around the world the Third Sector (TS) of the economy is coming under pressure to modernise their management. The typical approaches to modern management being imposed overseas may not be appropriate for TS organisations and therefore they need to be critically examined, especially for their impact on employees. In Australia the TS is a large (approx. $15billion), yet low-profile set of ....Investigating the Impact of Work Design on Productive Wellbeing in Mercy Health: The Modernising Third Sector. Around the world the Third Sector (TS) of the economy is coming under pressure to modernise their management. The typical approaches to modern management being imposed overseas may not be appropriate for TS organisations and therefore they need to be critically examined, especially for their impact on employees. In Australia the TS is a large (approx. $15billion), yet low-profile set of organisations, of which the health industry is central. This project will investigate the issues that make workplaces in a TS health organisation a healthier and more productive place to work. The results could directly help improve workplaces covering more than 150,000 employees.Read moreRead less
Culture Change for a Sustainable Future: Strategy, Culture and Subculture in Queensland Health. The project investigates the strategic change processes of a State Health authority. The organisation has launched a series of change efforts in recent years, the most current being a major strategic initiative that is being implemented via a Balanced Scorecard methodology. The project examines longitudinally that change implementation process and its affects, particularly the impact on organisational ....Culture Change for a Sustainable Future: Strategy, Culture and Subculture in Queensland Health. The project investigates the strategic change processes of a State Health authority. The organisation has launched a series of change efforts in recent years, the most current being a major strategic initiative that is being implemented via a Balanced Scorecard methodology. The project examines longitudinally that change implementation process and its affects, particularly the impact on organisational culture. Theoretically, it explores the existence of organisational subcultures and how they function as a resource by organisational members to make differential interpretations of the change process. It focuses on subcultures formed around professional identifications and the extent to which they align with the change.Read moreRead less
Multi-level analysis of human resource management systems on hospital outcomes. This project explores the relationships among human resource management systems, perceived organisational support, trust-in-management and commitment of healthcare workers. The fundamental aim is to assist hospital managers to determine where to direct their efforts to have maximum impact upon staff and hospital performance.
Visual optimisation of patient flow in Hospital Emergency Departments. Recent policy announcements by the State and Federal Governments have centred on the need to explore the use of process management principles, normally applied to manufacturing industry, to health services management. This multidisciplinary project addresses one of the most pressing needs in health services - provision of methods to reduce patient queues and waiting times in emergency departments through interactive computing ....Visual optimisation of patient flow in Hospital Emergency Departments. Recent policy announcements by the State and Federal Governments have centred on the need to explore the use of process management principles, normally applied to manufacturing industry, to health services management. This multidisciplinary project addresses one of the most pressing needs in health services - provision of methods to reduce patient queues and waiting times in emergency departments through interactive computing simulation to visualise and plan work process improvements. This smart use of information will benefit hospital managers, patients and their carers, is transferable to other health contexts, and by optimising resource usage has the potential to help build Australian (health) business.Read moreRead less