Challenges for inter-departmental cooperation in hospitals: Results from cross-case analysis

AbstractBackground sed economic pressure and rising quality expectations force hospitals to use their resources more efficiently than ever. Therefore, hospitals specialise to generate quality advantages and link up with other hospitals to generate economies of scale. In this light of increasing organisational complexity of growing hospitals, successful inter-departmental cooperation is discussed as an important lever for mitigation of these growing challenges. e requirement for successful inter-departmental cooperation is the sufficient knowledge about potential barriers and challenges in such complex organisations. Unfortunately, existing literature does not address this question in a structured way. Therefore, the aim of this study is to provide a list of challenges that can occur in a hospital environment and to suggest initiatives to overcome or reduce these challenges. thor follows a case study approach based on the data from scaled- and open interviews with members of different professional groups in two hospitals. To generate a holistic picture, the phenomenon is studied from a strategic-, process- and technological perspective. Furthermore cases are compared in a cross-case analysis to improve generalisability. s nges identified from the three different perspectives are presented and compared in the cross-case comparison. Furthermore, potential initiatives to overcome the identified challenges are presented. sion udy reveals that several challenges on organisational and technological level hinder inter-departmental cooperation. Among these are distrust in the medical service quality, lack of skills of employees as well insufficient data integration and media breaks.