This study deals with the complex phenomenon of occupational health. There is knowledge of how a good work environment should look like, but despite this, many employees experiences ill health in the workplace mainly in the form of neck and back pain. This study is a case study conducted in a high-risk workplace. The overall purpose was to describe and analyze the health situation of a specific company with neck and back problems. Mainly, eight interviews had been used as the data collection method, but additional observations had also been implemented.

Cancer was the second most common cause of death in Sweden in 2011. As the number of beds in hospitals decreases, numerous severely ill patients receive care at home. This results in family members performing important parts of the caring process. The aim of this study was to describe the caregivers' support needs from healthcare professionals when caring for an adult relative with cancer. A literature review was performed, in which results from empirical studies were reviewed and summarized.

During 2001-2002 a prototype, IMIS (Integrated Mobile Information System) was developed at BTH (Blekinge University of Technology) to demonstrate how mobile IT-systems can be used in healthcare. The prototype was based on the activity theory of Engeström. An ongoing project started in spring 2003. The purpose of the project is further development of IMIS with special focus in the diabetes healthcare. Participants in the project are scientists and students at BTH, ALMI Företagspartner, Blekinge FoU-enhet, Barndiabetesförbundet Blekinge, Blekinge Diabetesförening, Vårdcentralen Ronneby and Vårdcentralen Sölvesborg.

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss how an instrument originally developed for measuring changes toward lean thinking inservice organizations in general should be adjusted in order to be of use in service organizations within the healthcare sector, andin hospital organizations in specific. The adjustments are suggested based on difficulties specifically arising when implementinglean within the healthcare sector.Thesis starting point is a pre-existing lean assessment instrument developed for service organizations in general. The thesis appliesa qualitative method and integrates literature from the health care sector and lean production movement with the expertise of tenacademics and practitioners in order to find difficulties associated with the implementation of lean within the healthcare sector.These difficulties then lie as the substratum for the adjustments suggested to be made on the instrument.The thesis finds that lean, as a philosophy, does not differ between service organizations in general and service organizationswithin healthcare settings. However, due to deficits in the general understanding of lean some adaptions on the instrument mustbe made. First, some words associated with production must be changed to words associated with healthcare.

Senior citizens require a healthy oral cavity and healthy teeth in order to eat, speak and preserve their well-being. With age we know that the incidence and prevalence of diseases and symptoms originating from the oral cavity are more common compared to younger age groups. Senior citizens are the fastest growing population on earth, thus the need of healthcare providers with knowledge and skills in oral healthcare are in great demand.  The purpose of this thesis is to identify oral healthcare interventions and educational interventions which have been shown to improve oral health of residents over 65 years of age.  A literature review was conducted in which 15 scientific articles were scrutinized. Databases used were PubMed, Cinahl and Scopus. The results imply that good oral healthcare not only improve the oral health of senior citizens, but also prevents the occurrence of other diseases such as pneumonia and  improve the overall quality of life.

Background: In Sweden the healthcare has moved from the homes to the hospitals, as the system has developed. Parents were not allowed to visit their children when they were hospitalised in the past. It was noticed in the beginning of the 20th century that it might be harmful for the children to be left without parents at the hospital. Today it is considered a fact that the parents should stay with their hospitalised children and the healthcare is based on a family-centered care. Aim: The aim of this literature study was to elucidate parents experience when having hospitalised children.

Introduction: Good hand hygiene practice is the single most important measure to reduce the spread of bacteria and viruses in healthcare. For nurses, this has become more important as the spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria in hospitals is increasingObjective: To identify factors that are important for adherence to hand hygiene among health care workers with patient contact.Method: Systematic literature review. Original articles were searched in PubMed and Cinahl.Results: Factors of importance for compliance was profession, lack of time, knowledge/education, physical work environment, attitudes toward hand hygiene, and dry hands.Conclusion: More education, less workload and more visible placement of hand disinfectant containers are examples of actions that could lead to the improvement of staff hand hygiene and reduce the incidence of healthcare associated infections. Due to the fact that health care workers around the world have different training and approaches, the result of this study may be difficult to use. To increase adherence to hand hygiene, a similar study limited to a specific country, such as Sweden, would therefore be interesting to carry through.Keywords: hand hygiene, Infection Control, Compliance..

This study deals with work environment from a legal perspective. The study includes legislative history, legislation today and one empirical study. The legislation that concerns work environment (health and safety) in Sweden today is found in the Swedish Work Environment Act (WEA), the Work Environment Ordinance (WEO), Provisions issued by the Work Environment Authority, related legislations and also collective agreements. The WEA, passed by the parliament in 1977, came into force on the 1st of July 1978 and it defines the framework for Provisions issued by the Work Environment Authority, which is an authority superintended by the Swedish government. These Provisions contain more detailed stipulations and obligations with reference to the working environment.

IN THIS THESIS WE EXAMINE LEAN IN HEALTHCARE, IN PARTICULAR WE LOOK AT THE PERCEIVED CHANGES BY THE PEOPLE WORKING IN THE PROCESS AS WELL AS THE ONES WORKING WITH MORE ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS. WE ALSO ASK OURSELVES IF THESE CHANGES ARE SUSTAINABLE. OUR STUDY IS DONE ON THREE CLINICS (LOCATED IN SÖDERTÄLJE, LANDSKRONA AND MALMÖ). THE STUDY IS PERFORMED THROUGH DEEP-INTERVIEWS WITH A FEW KEY PEOPLE IN THE DIFFERENT CLINICS. FURTHER A SURVEY IS SUBMITTED TO EACH OF THE THREE CLINICS TO GET A BROADER INSIGHT OF THE PERSONNEL'S VIEW ON THE CHANGES.

This study aims to evaluate the value relevance of Piotroski?s (2000) nine fundamental signals. In order to do this, the signals are tested on the OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm between the years 2003 and 2009. The hypotheses of the study are whether the signals are value relevant and if the value relevance has changed. To test this, a Chi-square test and a regression are used.

I denna uppsats har jag studerat förändringsarbete i samband med införande av Lean Healthcare. Arbetet har en abduktiv ansats där jag utifrån en fallstudie på Akademiska Sjukhuset i Uppsala har studerat hur de arbetar med förändringsarbetet. För att få insikt i deras förändringsarbete har jag intervjuat delar av personalen och deltagit i två av deras utbildningsdagar.Förutom en beskrivning av hur arbetet på Akademiska Sjukhuset är organiserat så innehåller arbetet även en stor teoridel som tar upp de grundläggande principerna i Lean-filosofin. I tillägg till detta så presenteras också en modell för förändringsarbete och jag har tagit med teorier som specifikt handlar om förändringsarbete i samband med införande av Lean Healthcare. Genom att jämföra teorierna med erfarenheterna från utbildningsdagarna har jag sedan kunnat dra slutsatser om förändringsarbetet.För att lyckas med Lean-implementeringen är det viktigt att inse att det kan finnas ett motstånd mot förändringarna.

Lung cancer is a disease which patients experience stigma in society and in care. This is because lung cancer is often seen as a self-inflicted disease. The stigma surrounding lung cancer is due to the strong relationship with smoking and have been shown to have a negative impact on the perceived health. The purpose of this study was to illuminate experiences of stigma for patients with lung cancer. The literature review was based on 11 scientific articles.

Denna uppsats ämnar förklara och skapa förståelse för förutsättningar till Lean Healthcare, den metod för effektivisering som sjukvården anammat för att utveckla och förändra de traditionsenliga verksamhetsstrategier som länge styrt sjukvårdens arbetssätt och processer. Genom att identifiera vilka egenskaper som bör stimuleras hos framtida arbetskraft för att skapa de förutsättningar som krävs för att vidmakthålla Lean Healthcare som en långsiktig effektiviseringsmetod bidrar denna studie med information som är behövlig för att ihärdigt lyckas med Lean Healthcare.De svårigheter som påvisats vid implementeringen av Lean Healthcare kan från befintlig forskning härledas till en kollision mellan den organisationskultur som förespråkas inom Lean, ursprungskonceptet till Lean Healthcare och den kulturella kontext som finns inom befintlig organisationskultur där Lean implementeras. Denna kollision påvisas genom en avsaknad av ihärdighet inom organisationerna som implementerat Lean då befintlig organisationskultur och verksamhetsstrategi motsätter sig de arbetsprocesser och det arbetssättet som förespråkas inom Lean-filosofin. Då många sjukhus i Sverige redan implementerat, eller är under omstrukturering till att implementera, Lean Healthcare ämnar denna uppsats undersöka hur framtida arbetskraft förhåller sig till det arbetssätt som förespråkas inom sjukvården.Utifrån en positivistisk kunskapssyn och ett deduktivt angreppssätt genomfördes en kvantitativ studie där arbetssättet och lärandet undersöktes hos en grupp studenter inom sjukvårdsprogrammen vid Umeå universitet. Arbetssättet och lärandet undersöktes för att kunna urskilja värderingar och beteenden som kunde härledas till att förutsäga utfallet av en integration mellan ny arbetskraft och befintlig organisationskultur inom sjukvården.Studiens resultat visar att arbete inom team innefattar karaktärsdrag hos framtida arbetskraft som behöver stärkas vilket främst bör göras genom att stimulera befintliga och kompatibla egenskaper med Lean Healthcare, så som beslutstagande och förmågan att ta an en ledarroll.

Citizens? freedom of choice has been a subject of debate in Sweden for over 30 years. This study focuses on decision making processes among patients within the Swedish healthcare system. The main conclusions are that in contrast to how patients? freedom of choice is described within governmental bills and governmental inquires and reports, patients are not following the steps included in the rational model of decision making.

Work environment has been an important part of the Swedish working life for a long time and with the help of the Working Environment Law the work environment is mandatory. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper insight into how the system of middle managers systematic work environment looks like. The question was: How do six middle managers perceive and deal with systematic work environment? A qualitative study was conducted with six middle managers from a global company. During the analysis, there were three main themes to be recognized (cooperation and support facilitates the work environment, problem with the systematic work and difficulties with staff) and six sub themes.