title: Labor productivity, perceived effectiveness, and sustainability of innovative projects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess labor productivity, perceived effectiveness, and sustainability of a national quality program that sought to stimulate efficiency gains through increased labor productivity while maintaining quality through implementing small-scale innovation projects.
  
  
  METHODS
  Longitudinal measures of labor productivity and quality were collected at baseline and after completion of the innovation projects. Perceived effectiveness and sustainability (measured by routinization) were assessed cross-sectionally after project completion.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted in The Netherlands.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-eight improvement projects in long-term care organizations.
  
  
  METHODS
  A national quality program to stimulate innovative approaches in long-term care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Labor productivity, perceived effectiveness, and sustainability were the main outcome measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Labor productivity data were available for only 37 (38%) of the 98 projects, 33 (89%) of which demonstrated significantly improved efficiency. Perceived effectiveness was significantly associated with sustainability (0.29; p < .05), but not labor productivity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To achieve sustainability in long-term care, developers of innovative projects must collect better quality information on efficiency gains in terms of labor productivity and focus more on efficiency improvement. More research is necessary to explore relationships between labor productivity, perceived effectiveness, and sustainability.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Makai
authors.forename: Jane M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Cramm
authors.forename: Marloes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Grotel
authors.forename: Anna P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Nieboer
mesh_terms: D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009426:Netherlands; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D058996:Quality Improvement