The characteristics of effective governance of healthcare quality in Australian public hospitals

Abstract

Patients are sometimes harmed in the course of receiving hospital care. Increased awareness of harm and a board’s ultimate responsibility for healthcare quality have focussed attention on processes of governance. Research in this field, through cross-sectional surveys undertaken mainly in the US, has found variable engagement in a limited set of governance processes. Survey evidence indicates a positive association between boards more engaged in these healthcare quality processes and healthcare quality outcomes, but is unable to explain variable engagement. Emerging research has begun to illuminate a number of factors, such as communication and trust, mediating engagement in healthcare gover..