International agreements for health systems development: Nature, drivers, barriers, and benefits of international partnerships

ABSTRACT

Background: This study explored the nature of international agreements (IAs) within Ontario Academic Health Science Centres (OAHSC) and presents the exploratory findings to create a basis for an academically defensible body of literature on the topic.

Methods: This study employed a constructivist qualitative grounded theory methodology by telephone interviewing 14 participants who held leadership positions within OAHSCs that actively participate in, or interface with institutions that participate in, IAs. Interviews lasted an average of 65 minutes per interview; in total, the interviews yielded 220 pages of verbatim interview transcription.

Results: Presented using qualitative methodology, the results from this study explore the nature of IAs, as well as the different drivers, barriers, and provincial/organizational benefits of engaging in IAs from the lens of an OAHSC.

Conclusion: The results from this study explore the unique drivers, barriers, and provincial/organizational benefits of pursuing IAs amongst OAHSC. In publically funded health systems, it is important to understand the different elements of IAs and be able to identify the return on investment and/or impact that these agreements are having on the systems’ ability to provide high-quality care to local patients; this is only possible after close consideration of the drivers, barriers, and benefits of IAs.

Research Ethics Board: REB 106331

KEYWORDS:

• Healthcare
• international agreements
• globalization
• academic health science centers
• hospitals
• emerging markets
• economies in transition

Disclosure statement

Availability of data and materials: Interview transcripts will not be made available.

Competing interests: The author has no competing interests to declare.

Consent to participate: Consent for publication is not applicable.

Ethics approval: Ethics approval was granted from the Ethics Review Board at The University of Western Ontario prior to study initiation.

Notes on contributor

Andrew D. Scarffe earned his Masters of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from Western University and is pursuing his MBA at Thompson Rivers University. As a result of his research findings, Mr. Scarffe has been an invited guest lecturer and keynote speaker in Beijing, China and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (respectively).