Promoting Safety and Quality Through Human Resource Practices. Executive Summary.

摘要

This final report presents the results of the research we completed as part of the ACTION Task Order, 'Promoting Safety and Quality Through Human Resources Practices.' In late 2008, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) funded this research project to study how health care organizations are working to promote safety and quality of care through the use of human resource practices. The research team consisted of researchers from The Ohio State University, Rush University, and Health Research & Educational Trust. Our study built on growing empirical support for a link between staffing patterns and patient outcomes in health services. Further, this study built on findings from the management literature that have demonstrated a link between innovative human resources (HR) practices, also called high-performance work practices (HPWPs), and organizational outcomes. Specifically, the study explored the impact of HPWPs in the health care setting. The study comprised three main components: 1. Literature scan/predictive logic model development: A scan of empirical and practitioner-based literature was completed to develop a comprehensive logic model that combines and synthesizes the relationships between various HPWPs and quality outcomes in health care organizations. 2. Case study analysis: In-depth case studies were completed on five health systems known for exemplary human resources practices to explore the dimensions of the logic model and identify best practices for HPWPs. 3. Business case analysis: Part of the case study analysis was to explore whether and how health systems demonstrate a financial and nonfinancial business case for their investment in HPWPs.