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Strategic planning in academic paediatric hospitals: The need for child health input

Joel Warkentin1, Timothy Frewen

  • 1The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.

Paediatrics & Child Health
|November 26, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Integrating Canadian paediatric programs into larger hospitals can harm child health services if paediatric experts are excluded from executive decisions. This exclusion led to specialist resignations and impacted care delivery and education.

Area of Science:

  • Health Services Management
  • Paediatric Academic Medicine
  • Healthcare System Integration

Background:

  • Canadian paediatric academic programs have increasingly integrated into larger hospitals and health authorities over 20 years.
  • This integration presents challenges for maintaining specialized child health services within broader healthcare systems.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To illustrate the negative impacts of strategic planning and system changes in academic hospitals without child health input.
  • To highlight the critical need for paediatric stakeholder involvement in executive decision-making.

Main Methods:

  • Case study analysis of the Children's Hospital of Western Ontario's integration into London Health Sciences Centre.
  • Examination of the divergence between executive leadership vision and paediatric healthcare provider perspectives.

Main Results:

  • Executive leadership vision conflicted with paediatric care providers' needs.
  • This conflict resulted in the resignation of paediatric subspecialists.
  • The Department of Paediatrics' capacity for care delivery and professional education was compromised.

Conclusions:

  • Exclusion of child health input from executive decision-making can have detrimental effects on paediatric academic programs.
  • Involving paediatric stakeholders in strategic planning is essential for successful healthcare integration and maintaining quality child health services.

Keywords:
Children’s Hospital of Western OntarioIntegrationLondon Health Sciences CentrePaediatric hospitalsSizing and scoping

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