Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 15, 2026

Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Exploring the fit between organizational culture and quality improvement in a home-care environment
1Groupe de Recherche sur les Aspects Sociaux de la Santé et de la Prévention, Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada. firbanko@grasp.umontreal.ca
Background:
Overseeing the quality of community-based, home-care services is a subject of concern in most jurisdictions confronted with population aging and the rise of chronic conditions. Although various quality management strategies have been used in different health care settings, continuous quality improvement (CQI) is still in the early stages of development among home-care service providers. What is more, some authors have raised questions as to whether CQI is suitable to the unique character of home-care and can be adequately applied to a diverse and varied range of agencies, each featuring a unique organizational culture, professional mix, and mode of operation.
Purposes:
The article reports on how differing organizational cultures--as found in a set of public and private home-care providers--appear to affect agency receptivity to CQI during program implementation.
Methodology/Approach:
The research methodology is characterized by a qualitative, multiple case study approach. Data were gathered from a purposive sample of four home-care agencies in Quebec, Canada, belonging to the public, private for-profit, and not-for-profit sectors.
Findings And Practice Implications:
It is concluded that a core set of cultural attributes play a decisive role in determining agency receptivity to CQI, even when its effect is mediated by several contingent variables. Further, some of the levers and barriers to implementation identified in previous research seem less relevant to home-care agencies. A number of policy/management implications are discussed, which may enhance receptivity to CQI by home-care agencies and prevent implementation failure.
Related Concept Videos
Documentation in Long-Term and Home Healthcare Setting
Long-Term Care Facilities
Restorative Care
Patient-centered Care
Methods of Documentation VI: Case Management Model
For example, a patient with a chronic illness...
Interdisciplinary Care: The Health Care Team-I
Physicians
The physician's primary responsibility is to diagnose illness and direct the medical or surgical treatment of the condition. The authority to admit patients to a healthcare agency or institution and practice care within that setting is granted to physicians by the healthcare agency or institution itself.
Interdisciplinary Care: The Health Care Team-II
Physical Therapist
A physical therapist (PT) aims to restore function or prevent additional impairment in a patient following an injury or disease. Massage, heat, cold, water, sonar waves, exercises, and electrical stimulation are some treatments used by PTs to treat...