Inter-Organizational Network Performance: Hospitals and Diagnostics of Patients with Pacemakers

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the most common health and life threats in the human population. In the case of a patient with arrhythmias in the form of heart blocks, doctors implant a pacemaker. However, permanent electrostimulation is an important contraindication to many medical procedures - in particular, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The purpose of the article is to understand the mechanisms of cooperation in the field of magnetic resonance imaging between different elements of the inter-organizational network in the case of patients with pacemakers. The article presents the results of the author's survey among diagnostic units in Poland. Besides, the difficulties faced by patients with pacemakers are discussed, as well as the reasons for refusing magnetic resonance imaging procedures for these patients. The main finding of this paper is that there is no specified mechanism inter-organizational cooperation in any case which can be implemented in specific medical situations, although interactions between hospitals are extremely important nowadays.