Influence of organizational components on the delivery of asthma care

The documented growing morbidity, mortality, and disability from asthma indicate a failure in effective delivery of appropriate care. This article reviews how different components of organizational technology in hospitals, free-standing emergency centers, physician practices, prepaid groups, and schools may be linked to asthma care and asthma outcomes. A framework to address how practice patterns, risk factors, and outcomes relate to organizational characteristics, such as time orientation, uncertainty, available technology, standardization of work, specialization of work, coordination, and control strategies, is presented.