Abstract

Healthcare services require the coordination of changing information and processes across many operational climates and practices. Despite many calls and efforts to promote quality improvement in healthcare, research indicates that significant risks to patient safety remain. This dissertation examines the application of operations management principles and practices in a hospital setting for the purpose of improving healthcare quality and safety. Specifically, we research the effects of safety culture, including operational climate and practices, as well as the adoption and use of information systems for delivering high quality healthcare and improved patient experience. Most existing research examines safety culture from a general organizational perspective and often fails to explicitly examine moderating effects of two key organizational variables: 1) hospital capacity as represented by the number of beds, and 2) the influence of information technologies. This dissertation combines multiple sources of secondary data on hospital performance with primary survey data from hospitals throughout the U.S. Performance outcomes examined include process of care quality, patient satisfaction, and patient experience of care.