TY - JOUR
T1 - Health care provider social network analysis
T2 - A systematic review
AU - Bae, Sung Heui
AU - Nikolaev, Alexander
AU - Seo, Jin Young
AU - Castner, Jessica
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2015/9/1
Y1 - 2015/9/1
N2 - Objectives: Although considerable progress has been made in understanding networks, their structure, and their development, little has been known about their effectiveness in the health care setting and their contributions to quality of care and patient safety.The purpose of this study was to examine studies using social network analysis (SNA) in the health care workforce and assess factors contributing to social network and their relationships with care processes and patient outcomes. Methods: We identified all published peer-reviewed SNA articles in CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, JSTOR, Medline (OVID), and Web of Science databases up to April 2013. Results: Twenty-nine published articles met the inclusion criteria. Current evidence of the health care workforce's social networks reveals the nature of social ties are related to personal characteristics, practice setting, and types of patients. A few studies also revealed the social network effects adoption and the use of a health information system, patient outcomes, and coordination. Conclusions: Current studies on the social ties of health care workforce professionals include several assessments of inefficiencies. The level of technical sophistication in these studies tended to be low. Future study using enhanced sophistication in study design, analysis, and patient outcome testing are warranted to fully leverage the potential of SNA in health care studies.
AB - Objectives: Although considerable progress has been made in understanding networks, their structure, and their development, little has been known about their effectiveness in the health care setting and their contributions to quality of care and patient safety.The purpose of this study was to examine studies using social network analysis (SNA) in the health care workforce and assess factors contributing to social network and their relationships with care processes and patient outcomes. Methods: We identified all published peer-reviewed SNA articles in CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, JSTOR, Medline (OVID), and Web of Science databases up to April 2013. Results: Twenty-nine published articles met the inclusion criteria. Current evidence of the health care workforce's social networks reveals the nature of social ties are related to personal characteristics, practice setting, and types of patients. A few studies also revealed the social network effects adoption and the use of a health information system, patient outcomes, and coordination. Conclusions: Current studies on the social ties of health care workforce professionals include several assessments of inefficiencies. The level of technical sophistication in these studies tended to be low. Future study using enhanced sophistication in study design, analysis, and patient outcome testing are warranted to fully leverage the potential of SNA in health care studies.
KW - Care process
KW - Health care provider
KW - Patient outcomes
KW - Social network analysis
KW - Systematic review
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84940891272&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.outlook.2015.05.006
DO - 10.1016/j.outlook.2015.05.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 26162750
AN - SCOPUS:84940891272
VL - 63
SP - 566
EP - 584
JO - Nursing Outlook
JF - Nursing Outlook
SN - 0029-6554
IS - 5
ER -