Modular service provision for heterogeneous patient groups: a single case study in chronic Down syndrome care

Continuity of care for children with anorexia nervosa in the Netherlands: a modular perspective

Care provision for children with anorexia nervosa is provided by outpatient care teams in hospitals, but the way these teams are organized differs per hospital and hampers the continuity of care. The aim of this study is to explore the organization and continuity of care for children with anorexia nervosa in the Netherlands by using a modular perspective.We conducted a qualitative, exploratory case study and took the healthcare provision for children with anorexia nervosa, provided by outpatient care teams, as our case. We conducted nine interviews with healthcare professionals involved in outpatient care teams from six hospitals. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.The modular perspective offered insights into the work practices and working methods of outpatient care teams. We were able to identify modules (i.e. the separate consultations with the various professionals), and components (i.e. elements of these consultations). In addition, communication mechanisms (interfaces) were identified to facilitate information flow and coordination among healthcare professionals. Our modular perspective revealed gaps and overlap in outpatient care provision, consequently providing opportunities to deal with unnecessary duplications and blind spots.   Conclusion: A modular perspective can be applied to explore the organization of outpatient care provision for children with anorexia nervosa. We specifically highlight gaps and overlap in healthcare provision, which in turn leads to recommendations on how to support the three essential parts of continuity of care: informational continuity, relational continuity, and management continuity. What is Known: • Care provision for children with anorexia nervosa requires a network of health care professionals from different organizations, as a result the organization and provision of care faces challenges. What is New: • Modular care provision sheds light on the complexity and organization of outpatient care provision and supports the three dimensions of continuity of care as experienced by children with anorexia nervosa and their parents/caregivers.

How service modularity can provide the flexibility to support person-centered care and shared decision-making

Background

Today’s healthcare provision is facing several challenges, that cause the level of complexity to increase at a greater rate than the managerial capacity to effectively deal with it. One of these challenges is the demand for person-centered care in an approach that is tuned towards shared decision-making. Flexibility is needed to adequately respond to individual needs.

Methods

We elaborate on the potential of service modularity as a foundation for person-centered care delivered in a shared decision-making context, and examine to what extent this can improve healthcare. We primarily focused on theory building. To support our effort and gain insight into how service modularity is currently discussed and applied in healthcare, we conducted a scoping review.

Results

Descriptions of actual implementations of modularity in healthcare are rare. Nevertheless, applying a modular perspective can be beneficial to healthcare service improvement since those service modularity principles that are still missing can often be fulfilled relatively easily to improve healthcare practice. Service modularity offers a way towards flexible configuration of services, facilitating the composition of tailored service packages. Moreover, it can help to provide insight into the possibilities of care for both healthcare professionals and patients.

Conclusions

We argue that applying a modular frame to healthcare services can contribute to individualized, holistic care provision and can benefit person-centered care. Furthermore, insight into the possibilities of care can help patients express their preferences, increasing their ability to actively participate in a shared decision-making process. Nevertheless, it remains essential that the healthcare professional actively collaborates with the patient in composing the care package, for which we propose a model. Altogether, we posit this can improve healthcare practice, especially for the people receiving care.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-021-07267-6.

Providing person-centered care for patients with complex healthcare needs: A qualitative study

Background

People with chronic conditions have complex healthcare needs that lead to challenges for adequate healthcare provision. Current healthcare services do not always respond adequately to their needs. A modular perspective, in particular providing visualization of the modular service architecture, is promising for improving the responsiveness of healthcare services to the complex healthcare needs of people with chronic conditions. The modular service architecture provides a comprehensive representation of the components and modules of healthcare provision. In this study, we explore this further in a qualitative multiple case study on healthcare provision for children with Down syndrome in the Netherlands.

Methods

Data collection for four cases involved 53 semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals and 21 semi-structured interviews with patients (the parents of children with Down syndrome as proxy). In addition, we gathered data by means of practice observations and analysis of relevant documents. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed utilizing the Miles and Huberman approach.

Results

Our study shows that the perspectives on healthcare provision of professionals and patients differ substantially. The visualization of the modular service architecture that was based on the healthcare professionals’ perspective provided a complete representation of (para)medical outcomes relevant to the professionals’ own discipline. In contrast, the modular service architecture based on the patients’ perspective, which we define as a person-centered modular service architecture, provided a representation of the healthcare service that was primarily based on functional outcomes and the overall wellbeing of the patients.

Conclusion

Our study shows that visualization of the modular service architecture can be a useful tool to better address the complex needs and requirements of people with a chronic condition. We suggest that a person-centered modular service architecture that focuses on functional outcomes and overall wellbeing, enables increased responsiveness of healthcare services to people with complex healthcare needs and provision of truly person-centered care.