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M.A. (Social Work) / The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether the manner in which the management tasks of planning and control are executed in a clinic for the treatment of alcohol dependents. influences the development of financial problems in the conduct of the affairs of such a clinic. The study was motivated by many years experience of a social worker at such clinics. In view of the paucity of research in this field, an exploratory study was undertaken. Research methods included: comparison of selected financial aspects in respect of two financial years, vis 1973/74 and 1983/8'4; a scrutiny of files for confidential information; and an examination of annual reports. The main hypothesis - although this hypothesis was not tested in an experimental manner - was found to be valid. The manner in which the management tasks of planning and control were executed determined the nature of the development of the following financial problems: inaccurate computation of subsidies; fund-raising not related to objectives in terms of the constitution; uncontrolled escalation in expenditure; failure, on the part of committees, to permit an appropriate delegation of powers; inadequate functioning of the social worker; and insufficient liaison with Council. Some of the recommendations made to rectify the situation were as follows : that an in-depth analysis of the subsidisation of clinics for the treatment of alcohol dependents be undertaken; that modern methods of fund-raising be studied and applied; that social workers Iike a personal effort to broaden their knowledge of financial matters, since this will greatly benefit the agencies employing them.

Purpose – The main aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between risk management practices and service quality in outpatient departments of Gauteng public hospitals. The study also evaluates the quality of the service provided at these outpatient departments. Methodology – The research design firstly included the review of literature on risk management and service quality. The study applied a quantitative research methodology where structured self-administered questionnaires were used as the data collection tools which were distributed to hospital staff to assess the relationship between risk management practices, and different set of questionnaires distributed to patients visiting the outpatient department. Judgement and convenience sampling was used to select the hospital staff and the patients, whereas stratified sampling was used to select the hospitals that were visited. Findings - The study reveals that outpatient departments of Gauteng public hospitals seem to be performing well with high patient perception scores. The positive aspects of service quality include neat and knowledgeable staff and informative patient files. The results show that only some of the risk management practises had a significant effect on service quality, such as management support and commitment, training and education and continuous improvement. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Effective leadership is essential for the achievement of any organisational success. The need for strong leadership and increased diversity is a prominent issue in today’s health service workforce. Effective leadership involves influencing others towards achieving the goals of the organisation. Leadership is the central ingredient necessary for progress as well as for the development and survival of organisations, especially in a changing environment such as is evident in South Africa. This study was undertaken to explore and describe the views of health professionals with respect to factors that promote or influence leadership effectiveness in public hospitals, with specific reference to Uitenhage Provincial Hospital. The research design of this study was a quantitative, explorative, descriptive survey. Interviews were conducted to explore and describe the views and perceptions of healthcare professionals (clinical and nonclinical), and the management of the Uitenhage Provincial Hospital, regarding leadership effectiveness in a public hospital. Firstly, a literature study was conducted on healthcare leadership generally and to identify various leadership approaches and factors that influence leadership effectiveness. More emphasis was put on the current and the most recent approaches to leadership. Secondly, an empirical study was conducted to gain the views and ideas of health professionals regarding leadership effectiveness in the institution. Lastly, the results of the empirical study were evaluated, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made, based on the information obtained from both the literature study and the empirical study.

This thesis is a descriptive analysis of a milieu programme, giving specific attention to its groupwork methods and contributions which is in operation at Warrendale, a residential treatment home for emotionally disturbed girls situated in Newmarket, Ontario. Against a brief history of the institution, it gives the theoretical basis of the work done with children, using the milieu concept as pioneered by Fritz Redl and Bruno Bettleheim. The institution uses caseworkers and groupworkers as residential staff, dealing directly with the children, but only the group work aspects of the programme are considered here. Three aspects of the total milieu are considered; (a) routines and rules; (b) leisure-time activities and the community; (c) discipline and problem-handling. Parts of the life of the institution are illustrated and analyzed in relation to the various therapeutic goals of the institution; (a) tension reduction; (b) individuality; (c) gaining relationships; (d) expression and release of feelings. The value of these three aspects are also considered for their diagnostic value. The contribution and use of group skills in the milieu setting are considered in the light of the therapeutic goals mentioned above. The group session is the principal technique considered, and the interpretive and goal setting values of group sessions are brought out. The significance of celebrating social festivities and the special uses of group sessions as expressive media are also exemplified as a part of group skills. The overall contributions, and possibilities of improvement, are summarized in a concluding chapter. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study is a formulative exploratory study in the area of communication. It investigates the operation of the social worker-patient communication process with respect to selected variables thought to influence this process. The study consists of three parts; the original research design, the critique of the original design, and the new design. The project takes place at the Riverview Hospital and involves both Crease Clinic and Centre Lawn units. The original design is formed around a frame of reference which underlines the need for communication by patients at a mental hospital. Unfortunately, the original design, which involved a study of factors affecting the information flow between social worker and patient, failed to achieve a clear focus in its purpose and problem formulation. The critique pointed out the various factors influencing the original study and which led to the necessary revision of the study design. It includes a comprehensive outline of the extraneous variables which were encountered in this study and suggests the extent to which they may affect the validity of the study findings. The new design incorporates the findings and implications of the original design, and was enlarged to include communication between the staff treatment team (doctor, social worker, charge nurse) and the patient. A more specific theoretical frame of reference was developed and in addition suggestions for implementation of the new design are made and can serve as a reference point for any continuing studies in this area. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

In hospitals, as in business, the literature bears evidence of successful implementation of specialized computer systems. Unfortunately, all attempts at designing large-scale totally integrated hospital information systems have so far been unsuccessful. It seems apparent that the missing link between the dedicated systems and the "total" systems is the non-utilization of the systems approach. To demonstrate the importance and the practicality of this approach, it is used to outline and evaluate the criteria applicable in choosing a data management system for hospital administration. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

This thesis is an ethnographic account of the daily life of an outpatient centre for the treatment of non-psychotic patients. The centre is located in a university setting and is nominally attached to a university mental hospital. The setting is described and the case is made that it normally allows for only two categories of participant: patients and therapists. The situated activity of these two groups in structuring the setting is a major focus of the work. The roles embodied in the two categories are described in detail and the way in which these roles interlock to create the social reality that is understood by the participants as a "therapeutic community" is set out. A belief system which is embedded in, and a determinant of each role is proposed. The practice of "doing therapy" is described and a preliminary formulation of this practice as a situated activity which depends on the social structure of the setting is attempted. A section which describes the observer's experiences in the setting is included as an appendix. It is argued that because the setting allows for only two classes of participant, the observer role is seen as deviant and that this leads to mistrust on the part of both sets of participants. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

Despite popular and professional concerns with childbirth and prenatal care there are few empirical studies of behavior in hospitals where these events typically occur. The problem set for the study reported here was to observe behavior in the maternity department of a hospital and to provide a theoretical description of what was observed in terms relevant to sociologists' interest in the social organization of work routines of professional staff members serving a lay client population. The thesis is thus a description of medical staff members' work routines, with an analytic interest in how that relates to features of work routines of service occupations in general. Specifically, the study reports upon the ways lay patients may differ from professional medical staff members in their perspectives on prenatal care and childbirth and how staff members see these divergences as often resulting in organizational problems when they try to provide care which is "complete, " efficient and expeditious. Further, the study describes how staff members develop interactional (and other) methods for managing patients, especially those who adhere to these nonmedical perspectives, so as to cope with such practical pressures as the need to schedule patients and their demands, provide a visibly competent performance for superiors, peers and patients, and prepare the patient for efficient and expeditious processing at subsequent organizational stages. It is asserted that these practical pressures (termed demand characteristics) are features commonly found in work routines of service occupations in general. Finally, it is argued that an ethnographic study of work routines of professional staff members of service institutions, e_. g., hospitals, may be necessary to explain adequately features of apparently natural or biological events, such as childbirth, that occur within them. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

Application of production line techniques has resulted in the development of centralized unit-dose dispensing in hospital pharmacies. Although this process is more efficient than decentralized dispensing, it is still a labor and time intensive operation. Many of the tasks associated with this operation are rote and repetitive. Also registered pharmacists have been pulled away from patient care areas back to the pharmacy in order to supervise dispensing. As a result the role of the pharmacist as a drug information specialist has suffered. The scope of this project is to develop a plan for automated dispensing of unit-dosed liquid and injectable medications as a partial answer to the needs of a modern hospital pharmacy. The plan covers conceptual design, including requirements specifications, functional analyses, requirements allocation, and preliminary cost analyses. / Master of Science