Background The shortage of FFP2 and FFP3 respirators posed a serious threat to the operation of the healthcare system at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aim Our aim was to develop and validate a large-scale facility that uses hydrogen peroxide vapour for the decontamination of used respirators. Methods A multidisciplinary and multisectoral ad hoc group of experts representing various organisations was assembled to implement the collection and transport of used FFP2 and FFP3 respirators from hospitals covering 86% of the Finnish population. A large-scale decontamination facility using hydrogen peroxide vapour was designed and constructed. Microbiological tests were used to confirm efficacy of hydrogen peroxide vapour decontamination together with a test to assess the effect of decontamination on the filtering efficacy and fit of respirators. Bacterial and fungal growth in stored respirators was determined by standard methods. Results Large-scale hydrogen peroxide vapour decontamination of a range of FFP2 and FFP3 respirator models effectively reduced the recovery of biological indicators: Geobacillus stearothermophilus and Bacillus atrophaeus spores, as well as model virus bacteriophage MS2. The filtering efficacy and facial fit after hydrogen peroxide vapour decontamination were not affected by the process. Microbial growth in the hydrogen peroxide vapour-treated respirators indicated appropriate microbial cleanliness. Conclusions Large-scale hydrogen peroxide vapour decontamination was validated. After effective decontamination, no significant changes in the key properties of the respirators were detected. European Union regulations should incorporate a facilitated pathway to allow reuse of appropriately decontaminated respirators in a severe pandemic when unused respirators are not available.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/ authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. SummaryPurpose -The purpose of the study is to develop understanding about the role of information and knowledge in healthcare processes and thereby create a basis for practices that would better support the actual service provision. This paper seeks to model and analyze the service processes of two case settings: laboratory and radiology units of a Finnish regional healthcare system. Design/methodology/approach -The main actors, their knowledge needs, current knowledge practices and bottlenecks in knowledge flows were recognized. The paper combines conceptual analysis and empirical findings. The empirical data were collected in the autumn of 2010 and consist of 32 thematic interviews in two units of a healthcare organization in Finland. The themes of the interviews are related to current knowledge practices and processes.Findings -The paper exemplifies an approach that provides a systematic basis for analyzing different aspects of knowledge management in healthcare processes. The approach provides valuable insights for analyzing knowledge-based foundations of health services and it is expected that this analysis helps elaborate the practical knowledge processes of healthcare organizations.Originality/value -The paper approaches health information management from the viewpoint of knowledge management discourse and highlights the importance of knowledge-based value creation. Instead of mere information transfer or delivery the paper emphasizes the knowledge-in-use perspective. Despite the essential role of knowledge assets, the development efforts have mainly concentrated on solving local problems with context specific technical solutions.

Abstract:With the increasing interest in the customers' role in service processes and value creation, there is a need to explore customer dominant logic in real service settings. This study focuses on the appearance and characteristics of customer dominant logic through a case study conducted in a healthcare service organisation. The main findings of the study concern how customer dominant logic appears in certain situations, when the service provider utilises information about a customer's life and ecosystem. The study results provide a rich contribution towards a deeper understanding of customer dominant logic in services. Practical suggestions are offered to service managers to make their services more customer-centric.Keywords: customer value; value creation; value co-creation; service dominant logic; customer dominant logic; provider dominant logic; customer-centric; healthcare service.Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Seppänen, K., Huiskonen, J., Koivuniemi, J. and Karppinen, H. (2017) Biographical notes: Kaisa Seppänen holds a Master of Science in Technology at the Lappeenranta University of Technology. She is a PhD student at Lappeenranta University of Technology. Her educational background is also from Lappeenranta University of Technology, where she studied chemistry and process development as the main subject. Today, as a PhD student, her personal research interest and focus of dissertation is in customer-service process interfaces and service process design in the healthcare context. Jouni Koivuniemi is an Associate Professor of Service Processes and Networks of the School of Business and Management at the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. His research interests focus on service networks, service and sustainable business models, and early phases of new business development. He has a 15-year experience in leading and expert positions on interdisciplinary and international research on these areas within public services and various industrial sectors. He has over 40 publications in international journals and conferences.Henri Karppinen currently works as a Research Manager at the Saimaa University of Applied Sciences, Lappeenranta, Finland. As a Research Manager, he focuses on research and development projects related to internationalisation of service business industry and digitalisation of customer-driven services. His personal research interest and focus is in digitalised personal healthcare, including cross-platform and application information processes and customer-driven health information sharing and delivery.

The roots of Operations Management (OM) in manufacturing context, but there has been a growing interest in applying OM approaches in different types of service contexts, including the non-profit sector. In this study we explore what OM research can do to support the improving of elderly home care. A systematic literature review was done to find out the typical managerial implications of service operations management (SOM) research. Interviews and a group decision support system session during an improvement project were used to point out the operational-level problems and development targets in organizing elderly home care. By comparing the research focus of SOM with the operational-level problems observed in the case context, the paper helps in bridging the gap between SOM theory and practice. This research helps both researchers and practitioners understand how SOM research can benefit different types of target organizations.

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