Evaluating Interventions to Health Organisation

The subject of this chapter is research into health management and policy interventions. It considers why there is relatively little research into organisational changes, management methods and health reforms. It notes the research problems and designs which have been used to evaluate quality methods and which can be used to study other interventions. Finally the chapter considers how managers can gain access to and assess research which could help them in their decisions. The chapter does not argue for evidence-based management, but does propose that managers and policy makers make a greater use of evaluation research. It proposes that the reasons they do not are as much the fault of researchers as they are due to the politicisation of health and the nature of decision making in health care.