Marlon Mundt, PhD
Marlon Mundt, PhD, has recently conducted a three-part lecture series at the Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement (CQPI), which is an interdisciplinary research center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Engineering. CQPI invited Marlon to present an overview and synthesis of research utilizing social network analysis in relation to healthcare delivery.
Social networks, defined as “the patterns of friendship, advice, communication, and support that exist among members of a system,” play a central role in the transmission of health-related information and behaviors as well as impact a primary care team’s quality of work life (e.g., job satisfaction, team climate and burnout) and patient health outcomes.
Marlon has applied social networks analysis to study team-based effects on health care quality and patient outcomes in primary care. His findings were recently published in Annals of Family Medicine, the International Journal of Nursing Studies and Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. His research, grounded in social network analysis, demonstrates that patterns of interactions in high performing teams significantly improve these teams’ functioning and allow them to deliver better patient outcomes. Marlon argues that technological solutions alone cannot substitute for face-to-face communication and teamwork among team members in primary care. Through his work Marlon has significantly enhanced the body of knowledge underlying team-based patient-centered approaches to health care delivery.
The lectures cover the following topics:
- Part 1: History of network science; network terminology and types; data collection tools and procedures
- Part 2: Social network visualization and data metrics; positional and community analysis
- Part 3: Social networks in health care organizations; testing hypotheses on social network structures
You can view the lectures at the HIPxChange website. Free registration at HIPxChange is required.
Published: May 2016