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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Gesundheitswesen 2024; 86(S 04): S251-S258
DOI: 10.1055/a-2350-3857
Review

Organisational Health Services Research in Germany: A Scoping Review of Conference Abstracts

Article in several languages: English | deutsch

Authors

  • Stefan Nöst 

    1   Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University Stuttgart, School of Health Sciences and Management, Stuttgart, Germany

  • Felix Miedaner 

    2   Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Campus Wolfsburg, Faculty of Health Care and Health Care Science, Wolfsburg, Germany

  • Wagner Anke 

    3   University Hospital Tübingen, Institute of Occupational and Social Medicine and Health Services Research, Tübingen, Germany

  • Marina Beckmann 

    4   University of Cologne, Institute of Medical Sociology, Health Services Research and Rehabilitation Science (IMVR), Cologne, Germany

  • Mark Exworthy 

    5   University of Birmingham, Health Services Management Centre, Birmingham, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

  • Katja Götz 

    6   University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, Institute of Family Medicine, Lübeck, Germany

  • Mirjam Körner 

    7   Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Health Professions, Competence Center, Interprofessionalism, Bern, Switzerland
    8   University of Freiburg, Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Freiburg, Germany

  • Russell Mannion 

    5   University of Birmingham, Health Services Management Centre, Birmingham, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

  • Holger Pfaff 

    9   University of Cologne, IMVR, Cologne, Germany

  • Alexandra Piotrowski 

    10   Witten/Herdecke University, Institute of General Practice and Outpatient Healthcare, Witten, Germany

  • Antje Hammer 

    11   University of Bonn, Institute for Patient Safety, Bonn, Germany

  • Lena Ansmann 

    12   University of Cologne, Institute of Medical Sociology, Health Services Research and Rehabilitation Science (IMVR), Cologne, Germany
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Abstract

Background Health Services Research (HSR) is a growing field in Germany, in which Organisational Health Services Research (OHSR) has emerged as a subfield. The aim of this scoping review was to provide an overview of the field of OHSR within HSR in Germany and to map systematically original contributions by describing the organisational setting, the research design, the research objectives and the theoretical underpinning.

Methods A scoping review examined published abstracts from the 19th German Conference on Health Services Research 2020. Abstracts were included if (1) health care organisations, subunits or organisational processes were mentioned as research objects, and (2) if at least one out of five research perspectives from a recent German definition of OHSR was addressed. After intensive pilot screenings within a group of nine researchers, all abstracts were screened independently in three review teams with three researchers each, and data from included abstracts were extracted using content analysis based on a self-developed detailed coding scheme.

Results Out of n=468 identified abstracts in German (84%) or English (16%) language, n=138 (29.5%) abstracts were included. The majority of included abstracts addressed acute care in hospitals (34.8%), reported results from observational studies (59.4%) and collected primary data (69.6%). There was a slightly higher use of quantitative (32.6%) than qualitative (24.6%) research methods with a considerable number of studies using more than one method (31.9%). An explicit reference to theory was made in 7.2% and 17.4% used the term ‘organisation’ or related terms explicitly in their abstract.

Conclusion This review provides a systematic but preliminary overview of the scope to which HSR in Germany addresses OHSR. The organisational perspective is considered extensively in HSR abstracts, but mostly implicitly. The research is reported largely free of theory which can reduce their explanatory power. Therefore, a research agenda, more awareness as well as education and better conceptualisation of OHSR topics within German HSR are needed.

Keywords

Health Services Research - Organisation studies - Health Care - Organisational Behaviour in Health Care - Organisational Health Services Research

Supplementary Material

Zusätzliches Material



Publication History

Accepted Manuscript online:
21 June 2024

Article published online:
19 August 2024

© 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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