Tackling the problem of regulatory pressure in Dutch elderly care: the need for recoupling to establish functional rules

Regulatory pressure is widely recognized as a problem in healthcare. At first sight the solution seems simple: discard rules and give caregivers more resources to provide personalized care. Based on qualitative research in four elderly care organizations in the Netherlands, this paper shows that regulatory pressure is a persistent problem that cannot be solved on an individual level, as it results from a disconnect between the work of different actors in the healthcare system. Drawing on concepts from Organization Studies, the paper shows that the work of caregivers, healthcare managers and ex... Mehr ...