scholarly journals Primary Care Networks and Eritrean Immigrants’ Experiences with Health Care Professionals in Switzerland: A Qualitative Approach

Author(s):  
Carla Wallimann ◽  
Andreas Balthasar

Growing migration in European countries has simultaneously increased cultural diversity in health care. Migrants’ equal access to health care systems and migrant friendly health care have therefore become relevant topics. Findings gathered in recent years have mainly focussed on the perspective of care providers, whereas this study includes migrant perspectives. It explores the primary care network of Eritrean immigrants in Switzerland as well as their experiences of interacting with health professionals. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with intercultural interpreters from Eritrea were conducted. On the basis of a thematic analysis, the study identified the important informal and formal contacts in these Eritrean immigrants’ primary care networks and the specific forms of support each actor provides. In this network, encounters with health professionals were predominately expressed positively. The main barriers reported were language difficulties and intercultural understanding. On the basis of the participants’ statements, six key lessons for practice have been derived. These lessons are specifically important for facilitating Eritrean immigrants’ access to the Swiss health care system. Nevertheless, they are also relevant for other groups of migrants in European countries.

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 1159-1161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Travassos

The Introduction outlines this issue's special Forum on equity in access to health care, including three Articles and a Postscript. The Forum represents a continuation of the debates raised during a seminar organized by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2006, in collaboration with UNICEF, UNDP, World Bank, the WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, and the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. The authors approach health care access and equity from a comprehensive and contemporaneous perspective, introducing a new conceptual framework for access, in which information plays a central role. Trust is proposed as an important value for an equitable health care system. Unethical practices by health administrators and health care professionals are highlighted as hidden critical aspects of inequities in health care. As a whole, the articles represent a renewed contribution for understating inequalities in access, and for building socially just health care systems.


2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 33-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Kates

For 20 years mental health and primary care providers across Canada have been working collaboratively together to improve access to care, provider skills, and patient experience. The new strategic plan of the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) offers many opportunities for collaborative care to play a role in the transformation of Canada’s mental health systems. To assist the plan, this paper presents principles underlying successful projects and ways that mental health and primary care services can work together more collaboratively, including integrating mental health providers in primary care. It integrates these concepts into a Canadian Model for Collaborative Mental Health Care that can guide future expansion of these approaches, and suggests ways in which better collaboration can address wider issues facing all of Canada’s health care systems.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Gerald Monk ◽  
Stacey Sinclair ◽  
Michael Nelson

Despite the overwhelming evidence that suggests that patients, families and health care systems benefit from offering appropriate disclosures and apologies to patients and families following the aftermath of medical errors, few health care organizations in the U.S. invest in providing systemic training in disclosure and apology. Using a narrative analysis this paper explores the cultural barriers in the United States healthcare environment that impede health care providers from engaging in restorative conversations with patients and families when things go wrong. The paper identifies a handful of programs and models that provide disclosure and apology training and argues for the unique contributions of narrative mediation to assist health care professionals to disclose adverse events to patients and families to restore trust.


1993 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-98
Author(s):  
Bodo B. Schlegelmilch ◽  
James M. Carman

This paper explores attitudes of university students towards two differently organised health services, ie the National Health Service in the UK and the more market oriented system in the US and analyses the level of confidence placed in primary care providers (GPs/family physicians) in both systems. Although major differences in the perception of the two health care systems are identified, hardly any differences emerge between the two countries in terms of the confidence patients place in their primary care providers.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin W. Yan ◽  
Dimah Azzam ◽  
Melanie P. Columbus ◽  
Kristine Van Aarsen ◽  
Selina L. Liu ◽  
...  

Health care systems often provide a range of options of care for patients with illnesses who do not require hospital admission. For individuals with diabetes, these options may include primary care providers, specialized diabetes clinics, and urgent care and walk-in clinics. We explored the reasons why patients choose the Emergency Department over other health care settings when seeking care for hyperglycemia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Zallman ◽  
Carolyn F Fisher ◽  
Sofia Ladner ◽  
Kira Mengistu ◽  
Alison B Rapaport ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Inter-clinician electronic consultation (eConsult) programmes are becoming more widespread in the USA as health care systems seek innovative ways of improving specialty access. Existing studies examine models with programmatic incentives or requirements for primary care providers (PCPs) to participate. Objective We aimed to examine PCP perspectives on eConsults in a system with no programmatic incentive or requirement for PCPs to use eConsults. Methods We conducted seven focus groups with 41 PCPs at a safety-net community teaching health care system in Eastern Massachusetts, USA. Results Focus groups revealed that eConsults improved PCP experience by enabling patient-centred care and enhanced PCP education. However, increased workload and variations in communication patterns added challenges for PCPs. Patients were perceived as receiving timelier and more convenient care. Timelier care combined with direct documentation in the patient record was perceived as improving patient safety. Although cost implications were less clear, PCPs perceived costs as being lowered through fewer unnecessary visits and laboratories. Conclusions Our findings suggest that eConsult systems with no programmatic incentives or requirements for PCPs have the potential to improve care.


2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 680-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Hansson ◽  
Ann Svensson ◽  
Britt Hedman Ahlström ◽  
Lena G. Larsson ◽  
Berit Forsman ◽  
...  

Aims: Frail elderly patients who have multiple illnesses do not fare well in modern health care systems, mainly due to a lack of care planning and flawed communication between health professionals in different care organisations. This is especially noticeable when patients are discharged from hospital. The aim of this study was to explore health care professionals’ experience of obstacles and opportunities for collaboration. Methods: Health professionals were invited to participate in three focus groups, each consisting of a hospital physician, a primary care physician, a hospital nurse, a primary care nurse, a municipal home care nurse or an assistant officer, a physical or occupational therapist and a patient or a family member representative. These individual people were then asked to discuss the obstacles and opportunities for communication between themselves and with the patients and their relatives when presented with the case report of a fictitious patient. Content analysis was used to identify categories. Results: Several obstacles were identified for effective communication and care planning: insufficient communication with patients and relatives; delayed collaboration between care-givers; the lack of an adequate responsible person for care planning; and resources not being distributed according to the actual needs of patients. The absence of an overarching responsibility for the patient, beyond organisational borders, was a recurring theme. These obstacles could also be seen as opportunities. Conclusions: Obstacles for collaboration were found on three levels: societal, organisational and individual. As health care professionals are well aware of the problems and also see solutions, management for health care should support employees’ own initiatives for changes that are of benefit in the care of frail elderly patients with multiple illnesses.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
İrfan Karahan ◽  
Aybüke Yürekli ◽  
Ömer Recep Özcömert ◽  
Birhan Oktaş ◽  
Aydın Çifci

Diabetic foot is a serious problem for health care systems. Twitter can provide communication between people and it might be an informative tool for health care management. The purpose of this study is detecting the people or organizations that tweet about diabetic foot and analyze the interactions of these tweets on Twitter. All tweets containing the keyword “diabetic foot” in April 2019 were collected. The users were separated into 7 groups: patients with diabetes, health care providers, nongovernmental organizations, information sites and communication media, private companies, medical students, and others. Health care professionals and nonprofessionals were evaluated in likes, mentions, and retweets. The major group was health care providers. By 2-group comparisons of professionals and nonprofessionals, all likes, mentions, and retweets were significantly different ( P = .02, P = .04, P < .001, respectively). We concluded that the tweets of health care professionals get more interaction than others. Twitter might be a useful tool to distinguish accurate information about diabetic foot. Also, health care professionals should use for making people aware of the diabetic foot and shed light on society.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin W. Yan ◽  
Dimah Azzam ◽  
Melanie P. Columbus ◽  
Kristine Van Aarsen ◽  
Selina L. Liu ◽  
...  

Health care systems often provide a range of options of care for patients with illnesses who do not require hospital admission. For individuals with diabetes, these options may include primary care providers, specialized diabetes clinics, and urgent care and walk-in clinics. We explored the reasons why patients choose the Emergency Department over other health care settings when seeking care for hyperglycemia.


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