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Background: Individuals with serious mental illness face challenges in managing their health, leading to the need for integrating their needs and preferences in care decisions. One way to enhance collaboration between users and providers is to improve clinical governance; a shared responsibility between managers and providers, supported by healthcare organizations (HCOs), policies, and standards. We applied the concept of clinical governance to understand (1) how managers and providers can enhance the involvement of users in mental health, (2) the contextual and organizational factors that facilitate user involvement in care, and (3) the users' perceptions of their involvement in care. Methods: We conducted two, in-depth case studies from two clinical teams in Canada offering outpatient care for users with acute mental illness. A total of 25 interviews were carried out with managers, and four focus groups were held with providers. A measure of patient-reported experience was used to evaluate the users' perceptions of their involvement in care. Results: The providers used two methods to involve users in the care planning process: encouraging users to identify their life goals and supporting them to define recovery-oriented objectives. To encourage the adoption of collaborative practices, the managers used various practices such as revising care protocols, strengthening providers' knowledge of best practices and integrating peer-support workers (PSWs) in the team. Compliance with organizational and external commitments/requirements for user involvement, access to specific training and the institutionalization of a culture promoting user involvement facilitated the adoption of collaborative practices. We found that mental health teams that adopt recovery and collaborative practices with users show a high degree of user-perceived involvement in care. Conclusion: This is the first study to apply the concept of clinical governance to understand how managerial and clinical practices, and other organizational and contextual factors, can enhance the involvement of mental healthcare users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Canada, long waiting times for core specialized services have consistently been identified as a key barrier to access. Governments and organizations have responded with strategies for better access management, notably for total joint replacement (TJR) of the hip and knee. While wait time management strategies (WTMS) are promising, the factors which influence their sustainable implementation at the organizational level are understudied. Consequently, this study examined organizational and systemic factors that made it possible to sustain waiting times for TJR within federally established limits and for at least 18 months or more.Methods: The research design is a multiple case study of WTMS implementation. Five cases were selected across five Canadian provinces. Three success levels were pre-defined: 1) the WTMS maintained compliance with requirements for more than 18 months; 2) the WTMS met requirements for 18 months but could not sustain the level thereafter; 3) the WTMS never met requirements. For each case, we collected documents and interviewed key informants. We analyzed systemic and organizational factors, with particular attention to governance and leadership, culture, resources, methods, and tools.Results: We found that successful organizations had specific characteristics: 1) management of the whole care continuum, 2) strong clinical leadership; 3) dedicated committees to coordinate and sustain strategy; 4) a culture based on trust and innovation. All strategies led to relatively similar unintended consequences. The main negative consequence was an initial increase in waiting times for TJR and the main positive consequence was operational enhancement of other areas of specialization based on the TJR model.Conclusions: This study highlights important differences in factors which help to achieve and sustain waiting times. To be sustainable, a WTMS needs to generate greater synergies between contextual-level strategy (provincial or regional) and organizational objectives and constraints. Managers at the organizational level should be vigilant with regard to unintended consequences that a WTMS in one area can have for other areas of care. A more systemic approach to sustainability can help avoid or mitigate undesirable unintended consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]