This book offers a panoramic view of the state of management research and practice in Africa. One of its objectives is to recognize current advances in management, applied economics and organizational research in some of the 54 nations that form the continent. The focus will be on new developments across the region with a particular emphasis on the defining cultural and traditional elements and innovations that make African management different.

For years, problems related to health-care efficiency have been at the top of the priorities of many hospitals systems and governments. The growing cost of health care, and particularly hospitals, is a significant factor in the increasing pressure for improvement of hospitals’ efficiency while maintaining a high quality of services. Hospitals are recognized as organizations in which waste, unnecessary administrative burdens, failures of care coordination, failures in execution of care processes, and even fraud and abuse are frequently identified as causes. Adoption of management control as a response to hospital problems is consistent with the conviction that control is a critical management function that has the greatest impact on organizational performance. Research proves that the lack of adequate control, adapted to modern organizational solutions, causes many harmful consequences, such as faulty services, dissatisfied patients and employees, inability to effectively compete on market, low flexibility and innovativeness, and, consequently, poor performance of the organization. This book comprehensively presents issues related to management control and develops a breakthrough theory about management control in hospitals. It is the result of many years of research and outlines the concept of control and related theories, which are discussed in detail, taking into account the unique characteristics of medical services, the health-care market, and hospitals as public organizations. Research has shown that the main elements of management control in hospitals are information systems, diagnostic control, interactive control, innovativeness, manager’s trust in physicians, and perceived uncertainty. And that proper relationships between these elements positively influence the hospital’s performance. This book describes how the success of the entire control process is based on the hospital’s top management and its interaction with clinical managers, department heads, and directors of other medical departments as well as clinicians. After reading this book, the implementation of the solutions suggested will help hospitals improve their performance, including the quality and effectiveness of the provided medical services and patient care.

"Japan has achieved the world's highest life-expectancy under a universal health coverage system. The purpose of this book is to discuss effective management accounting methods for solving various issues now faced by the healthcare system in Japan (low birth-rate and aging society, issues in medical public finance, issues attendant to advancements of healthcare services, etc.). This book is written by Japanese researchers who are active at the forefront of management accounting research for healthcare, such as Takami Matsuo, Kazunori Ito, Yutaka Kato, and so on. This book shows the actual use of cost information, cost-management, and management-control methods for healthcare organizations in Japan, and examines how to adopt management accounting methods used by companies to healthcare management, which would be a useful reference for future healthcare management in countries that might face similar issues as Japan in the future"--

Exploring the mechanisms underlying performance comparisons, Performance Comparison and Organizational Service Provision investigates how such assessments shape hospitals’ service provision and medical professionals’ work. With a focus on U.S. health care, this study outlines how medical quality was defined and compared in the hospital sector from the late 19th century to the present. Developing a novel theoretical framework to investigate performance comparisons, several different forms of internal and external performance assessments are contrasted throughout this period. The transformative effects of these comparisons on hospitals’ relationships to patients, insurers, regulators, and staff are analyzed and their ramifications for current hospital care are explored. Drawing on this analysis, the book examines the controversial nature of these measures and the struggles among hospital managers, patients, physicians, and policy makers to determine hospital quality. Affording a deeper understanding of how performance comparisons influence organizational service provision, the book will be of interest to researchers in a broad range of fields including organization studies, accountability and evaluation, health care, and policy research as well as practitioners in hospital care and management.

This volume offers extensive information on preventive and infection surveillance procedures, routines and policies adapted to the optimal infection control level needed to tackle today’s microbes in hospital practice. It especially focuses on preventive measures for serious hospital infections. Each chapter includes a practical section that addresses the main aspects of procedures and treatment, and a theoretical section that contains updated documentation that can be used for further study, or to help select infection control measures. Infection control concerns all healthcare professional working directly or indirectly with patients; in diagnosis, treatment, isolation measures, operations, equipment, drugs, cleaning, textiles, transport, porter service, food and water, building and maintenance, etc. Hygiene and environmental control is central to infection prevention for patients, visitors and staff alike. Good hygienic practices, individual infection control, well implemented and frequent environmental cleaning, and a high professional standard of hygiene in the treatment and care of patients, are essential to patient safety and a safe working environment. Addressing this essential topic, this book is intended for doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, students in health-related subjects, hospital managers and health bureaucrats, as well as patients and their families.

"It is a provocative and useful compendium of ideas and historic perspectives that are current and applicable. It is a worthy contribution to the health care literature."

Praise for the first edition: "Valerie Iles has such a sensitive no-nonsense style that she easily succeeds in seducing the reader to accept her arguments about what is going so badly wrong with management in health care ... The case studies can only be described as 'gems'... But perhaps the greatest message this book can give to the NHS, and health care managers in particular, is that change is unstoppable. All organisms must adapt with their environment or die."- Health Service Journal "Yes! This is a book that draws heavily on real-life observations with an appropriate balance of theory and pragmatism. It tackles the challenges we all face in our everday work - managing people, change, money, ourselves and organisations."- Nursing Times "... anyone who has a part to play in managing health services would benefit from reading it."- British Medical Journal Much has been made of the distinction between management and leadership, but in health care this separation is unhelpful. Like the first edition, this completely revised edition of Really Managing Health Care describes a model, real management that brings the two elements together and demonstrates its application in health care settings. Drawing on theory across a wide range of management disciplines and illustrating these with practical examples, Valerie Iles succinctly answers three crucial questions: How can I manage clinical professionals? How can I increase the influence of my service? What changes do I need to introduce to improve the quality of care my service is offering? Written specifically for people suspicious of management jargon, Really Managing Health Care is designed for service leaders from across health and social care, and introduces ways of approaching the management task which recognize the particular dynamics of this field.