Community representation in hospital decision making: a literature review.

Conclusions The analysis indicates that: quality subcommittees set up to assist boards are a key structure for involving community representation in decision making around quality of care. There are clearly a number of challenges to effectively developing the process of community representation in hospital governance, associated with ambiguity, organisational and consumer issues. For an inclusive agenda to real life, work must be done on understanding the representatives' role and the decision making process, adequately supporting the representational process, and developing organisational cooperation and culture regarding community representation. What is known about the topic? Partnering community is recognised as a fundamental element of hospital quality improvement strategies and the implementation of the Australian agenda for advancing the quality of health service standards. It is also known that developing collaborative environments and partnerships can be a challenging process, and that it is good practice to consider the factors that will influence their success and develop an approach built on the identification of potential challenges and the incorporation of facilitators. What does this paper add? This paper draws out key obstacles that can challenge the process of involving community representation into hospital governance structures. What are the implications for practitioners? There is little published on the challenges to community engagement in the hospital g...
Source: Australian Health Review - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research