Corporate Culture Assessments in Integrative Oncology: A Qualitative Case Study of Two Integrative Oncology Centers

Abstract

The offer of “integrative oncology” is one option for clinics to provide safe and evidence-based complementary medicine treatments to cancer patients. As known from merger theories, corporate culture and integration models have a strong influence on the success of such integration. To identify relevant corporate culture aspects that might influence the success in two highly visible integrative oncology clinics, we interviewed physicians, nurses, practitioners, and managers. All interviews (11 in a German breast cancer clinic and 9 in an integrative medicine cancer service in the USA) were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed with content analysis. According to the theoretical framework of mergers, each clinic selected a different integration type (“best of both worlds” and “linking”). Nonetheless, each developed a similar corporate culture that has a strong focus on research and safe and evidence-based treatments, and fosters a holistic and patient-centered approach. Structured communication within the team and with other departments had high relevance. Research was highlighted as a way to open doors and to facilitate a more general acceptance within the hospital. Conventional physicians felt unburdened by the provision of integrative medicine service but also saw problems in the time required for scheduled treatments, which often resulted in long waiting lists.

The process of care in integrative health care settings – a qualitative study of US practices

“…These, in part, reflect some observations found in other reviews of IHC primary care health clinics and team orientated initiatives within hospitals [17, 18, 20]. …”

“…The themes that emerged from the interviews include shared vision or philosophy [ 17 ], the changes required to organisational arrangements to deliver IHC [ 18 ], the importance of co-location, the lack of formal structures within the IHC to facilitate collaboration, the lack of guidelines or protocols [ 19 ] and the desire to incorporate a viable research component within an IHC program but limited resources to do so [ 20 ]. These, in part, reflect some observations found in other reviews of IHC primary care health clinics and team orientated initiatives within hospitals [ 17 , 18 , 20 ].…”

Employing Evidence in Evaluating Complementary Therapies: Findings from an Ethnography of Integrative Pain Management at a Large Urban Pediatric Hospital

“…Hence, the types of thinking applied by study participants provide a framework that may be useful to future researchers, educators, and providers in the field of IM. Examples of critical thinking, 46,47 relying on others for evidence, 7,44,53,54 and reactionary thinking 27 have been demonstrated in other adult and some pediatric qualitative studies of IM, although they are not labeled as such. Few qualitative inquiries in CIM include the perspectives of multiple constituencies, including health care providers, parents, patients, and administrators.…”

MERGING conventional and complementary medicine in a clinic department – a theoretical model and practical recommendations

“…To test the completeness and feasibility of our preliminary model, we performed two case studies in integrative oncology centers: one in Germany (11 interviews) and one in the US (9 interviews). The results of the case studies on corporate culture in clinics were reported in a separate manuscript [ 30 ]. Both case studies consisted of interviews with different professionals (from conventional medicine, complementary medicine and administration) in each clinic, focusing on their corporate cultures.…”