scholarly journals Legitimating complementary therapies in the NHS: Campaigning, care and epistemic labour

Author(s):  
Kathy Dodworth ◽  
Ellen Stewart

Questions of legitimacy loom large in debates about the funding and regulation of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in contemporary health systems. CAM’s growth in popularity is often portrayed as a potential clash between clinical, state and scientific legitimacies and legitimacy derived from the broader public. CAM’s ‘publics’, however, are often backgrounded in studies of the legitimacy of CAM and present only as a barometer of the legitimating efforts of others. This article foregrounds the epistemic work of one public’s effort to legitimate CAM within the UK’s National Health Service: the campaign to ‘save’ Glasgow’s Centre for Integrative Care (CIC). Campaigners skilfully intertwined ‘experiential’ knowledge of the value of CIC care with ‘credentialed’ knowledge regarding best clinical and managerial practice. They did so in ways that were pragmatic as well as purist, reformist as well as oppositional. We argue for legitimation as negotiated practice over legitimacy as a stable state, and as labour borne by various publics as they insert themselves into matrices of knowledge production and decision-making within wider health care governance.

1988 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Rudinow Saetnan ◽  
Bjørn Backe ◽  
Arnulf Kolstad ◽  
Torarin Lamvik

AbstractThe authors of the paper argue that Norway's national health service, despite public perceptions, is both inexpensive and technologically advanced. Norway has a highly regulated medical system at both the national and local levels, and many distribution issues take the form of political debate. As a result, the authors believe that medical care and equipment is equitably distributed, but perhaps over-densely, throughout the country. Although the overall picture is optimistic, there is some concern that technologies, health care priorities, and decision-making processes should be more carefully examined by consensus conferences, advisory groups, and experts in technology assessment.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Simon Turner ◽  
Danielle D´Lima ◽  
Jessica Sheringham ◽  
Nick Swart ◽  
Emma Hudson ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Andreas Beckmann ◽  
Eva-Maria Bitzer ◽  
Mareike Lederle ◽  
Peter Ihle ◽  
Jochen Walker ◽  
...  

AbstractCoronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are available for revascularization of coronary artery disease (CAD) with the aims to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and to improve disease-related quality of life in particular. The German National Care Guideline (NVL-cKHK) on chronic CAD recommends the establishment of so-called heart teams for decision making in myocardial revascularization to improve the quality of care. Preferred recommendations for PCI or CABG are given for different patient subgroups depending on patient characteristics, concomitant diseases, and coronary morphology. The myocardial revascularization study (REVASK) is a noninterventional cohort study on care of patients undergoing PCI or CABG based on retrospective statutory health insurance (SHI) routine data, registry data from the German Cardiac Society (DGK) resp., the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (DGTHG), combined with prospective primary data collection from health care providers and patients. The primary goal is to investigate whether and to which extent heart teams, consisting of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, increase guideline adherence in decision making for myocardial revascularization. Ultimately the study project aims to improve patient care in terms of decision making for appropriate myocardial revascularization. Through the consistent implementation of the German National Care Guideline on chronic Coronary Artery Disease (NVL-cKHK) and the European Guidelines on myocardial revascularization, the reduction of morbidity, mortality and the reduced need for subsequent revascularization procedures are also desirable from a health economics perspective.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Skaiste Sendzikaite ◽  
Ruth Heying ◽  
Ornella Milanesi ◽  
Katarina Hanseus ◽  
Ina Michel-Behnke

Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge influence in almost all areas of life, affecting societies, economics and health care systems worldwide. The paediatric cardiology community is no exception. As the challenging battle with Covid-19 continues, professionals from the Association for the European Paediatric and Congenital Cardiology (AEPC) receive many questions regarding Covid-19 in a Paediatric and Congenital Cardiology setting. The aim of this paper is to present the AEPC position on frequently asked questions based on the most recent scientific data, as well as to frame a discussion on how to take care of our patients during this unprecedented crisis. As the times are changing quickly and information regarding Covid-19 is very dynamic, continuous collection of evidence will help guide constructive decision-making.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 237437352110340
Author(s):  
Shirley Chien-Chieh Huang ◽  
Alden Morgan ◽  
Vanessa Peck ◽  
Lara Khoury

There has been little published literature examining the unique communication challenges older adults pose for health care providers. Using an explanatory mixed-methods design, this study explored patients’ and their family/caregivers’ experiences communicating with health care providers on a Canadian tertiary care, inpatient Geriatric unit between March and September 2018. In part 1, the modified patient–health care provider communication scale was used and responses scored using a 5-point scale. In part 2, one-on-one telephone interviews were conducted and responses transcribed, coded, and thematically analyzed. Thirteen patients and 7 family/caregivers completed part 1. Both groups scored items pertaining to adequacy of information sharing and involvement in decision-making in the lowest 25th percentile. Two patients and 4 family/caregivers participated in telephone interviews in part 2. Interview transcript analysis resulted in key themes that fit into the “How, When, and What” framework outlining the aspects of communication most important to the participants. Patients and family/caregivers identified strategic use of written information and predischarge family meetings as potentially valuable tools to improve communication and shared decision-making.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Wallenburg ◽  
Jan-Kees Helderman ◽  
Patrick Jeurissen ◽  
Roland Bal

Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has put policy systems to the test. In this paper, we unmask the institutionalized resilience of the Dutch health care system to pandemic crisis. Building on logics of crisis decision-making and on the notion of ‘tact’, we reveal how the Dutch government initially succeeded in orchestrating collective action through aligning public health purposes and installing socio-economic policies to soften societal impact. However, when the crisis evolved into a more enduring one, a more contested policy arena emerged in which decision-makers had a hard time composing and defending a united decision-making strategy. Measures have become increasingly debated on all policy levels as well as among experts, and conflicts are widely covered in the Dutch media. With the 2021 elections ahead, this means an additional test of the resilience of the Dutch socio-political and health care systems.


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