Abstract

Operational researchers working in academia commonly struggle in attempts to influence practice and decision making in healthcare amid a growing recognition that behaviour is key to effective operational research (OR). To further our understanding of the behavioural factors that operational researchers working in healthcare consider influence their work’s impact, we interviewed 24 OR practitioners working in academia and with experience of working with the UK National Health Service (NHS). The semi-structured interviews were consented, recorded, transcribed, and analysed thematically using a framework approach. Five dominant themes emerged that highlighted: behavioural challenges concerning flexibility, pivoting and the abandonment of projects; the influence of the evolving ambitions, maturity and behaviours of a practitioner’s OR group; the hidden and changing motivations of host healthcare organisations; the reliance of practitioners on intuition and how their praxis is influenced by their agency within their group and its relationships with healthcare organisations; and how attributes of altruism, broader life experience and creative risk-taking influence an individuals’ praxis. In summary, we identified numerous behavioural factors considered important to success that operate within and across individual projects.

摘要

在越来越认识到行为是有效运筹学 (OR) 的关键的情况下，在学术界工作的运筹学研究人员通常都在努力影响医疗保健的实践和决策。为了进一步了解从事医疗保健工作的运营研究人员认为影响其工作影响的行为因素，我们采访了 24 名在学术界工作并具有与英国国家卫生服务 (NHS) 合作经验的 OR 从业人员。对半结构化访谈进行了同意、记录、转录和使用框架方法进行主题分析。出现了五个突出的主题：与灵活性、转向和放弃项目有关的行为挑战；从业者手术室团队不断变化的抱负、成熟度和行为的影响；东道国医疗机构隐藏的和不断变化的动机；从业者对直觉的依赖，以及他们的实践如何受到他们团体内的机构及其与医疗机构的关系的影响；以及利他主义、更广泛的生活经验和创造性的冒险精神如何影响个人的实践。总之，我们确定了许多被认为对成功很重要的行为因素，这些因素在各个项目内部和跨项目运行。