Assessment of Chronic Health Care through an Internet Consensus Tool

2016 ◽  
pp. 424-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josep Ma. Monguet ◽  
Alex Trejo ◽  
Tino Martí ◽  
Mireia Espallargues ◽  
Vicky Serra-Sutton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Chronic Care ◽  
Health Planning ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Consensus Method ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Professional Health ◽  
Participation Process ◽  
Definition Of

“Health Consensus for the Assessment of Chronic Care Programs” (HC-ACP) is an internet based application created to promote and facilitate the participation of health professionals in the definition of a set of indicators for the assessment of chronic care and management of areas of improvement in this field. The first prototype of the application has been applied twice, first in the region of Catalonia, and in a second project in the context of the whole Spanish Health System. HC-ACP has collected contributions from more than 800 health professionals from around Spain including profiles in the fields of management, health care professional, health planning and quality assessment, allowing sharing and aggregate knowledge and clinical experience from a wide range of points of view. After a process of literature review and panel meetings with professionals who proposed a wide list of indicators, the HC-ACP application was used to select a minimum set of indicators following a participative process based on Health Consensus, an online Real Time Delphi method. The first part of this chapter is devoted to expose paradigms that define the interdisciplinary research field of the method, the second part of the chapter presents the Health Consensus method, and finally the third part exposes a detailed description of the HC-ACP application and the followed process. Besides the relevance and utility of the Health Consensus method, the action-research conducted to build the application proves the efficiency and effectiveness of getting health professionals really involved in the processes of defining the models to assess the healthcare system. The online method proposed has been accepted by participants who have expressed high levels of satisfaction during the participation process.

scholarly journals Spirituality and Mental Health Care in a Religiously Homogeneous Country: Definitions, Opinions, and Practices Among Polish Mental Health Professionals

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edyta Charzyńska ◽  
Irena Heszen-Celińska
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Spirituality In Therapy ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Insufficient Knowledge ◽  
Human Characteristic

Abstract This qualitative study involved a sample of 121 Polish mental health professionals who were interviewed about their definitions of spirituality and their opinions and practices concerning the inclusion of clients’ spirituality in therapy. Using inductive content analysis, we identified seven categories regarding the definitions of spirituality: (1) relationship, (2) transcendence, (3) dimension of functioning, (4) a specific human characteristic, (5) searching for the meaning of life, (6) value-based lifestyle, and (7) elusiveness and indefinability. The majority of respondents claimed to include elements of spirituality in therapy. However, some participants included spirituality only under certain circumstances or conditions, or did not include it at all, citing lack of need, lack of a clear definition of spirituality, their own insufficient knowledge, lack of experience, fear, or concern over ethical inappropriateness. Implicit techniques were primarily used when working on clients’ spirituality. This article deepens the knowledge on including spirituality in mental health care, with special consideration for a specific context of a highly religious and religiously homogenous culture.

scholarly journals Shifting Boundaries in Professional Care

1996 ◽  
Vol 89 (7) ◽  
pp. 364-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Hopkins ◽  
Juliet Solomon ◽  
Julia Abelson
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
Organizational Complexity ◽  
Delivery Of Care ◽  
Professional Boundaries ◽  
Professional Care ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Shifting Boundaries ◽  
Effective Health Care

The nature of the work undertaken by different health professionals and inter-professional boundaries are constantly shifting. The greater knowledge of users of health care, and the increasing technical and organizational complexity of modern medicine, have partly eroded the control of health professionals over the substance of their work. The definition of a field of work as lying within the province of any one profession is culturally rather than scientifically determined. It is evident that care of good quality should be delivered at the lowest possible cost. This might include delivery of care by a less trained person than heretofore, or by someone with limited but focused training. Sharing of skills is a more sensible subject for discussion than transfer of tasks. We review a number of studies which show the effectiveness of inter-professional substitution in various care settings, and also the effectiveness of substitution by those other than health professionals. The views of users of health services on inter-professional substitution need to be considered. Health professionals and others need to work together to devise innovative ways of delivering effective health care. The legal issues need clarification.

scholarly journals What makes Care Plus effective in a provincial Primary Health Organisation? Perceptions of primary care workers

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Eggleton ◽  
Tim Kenealy
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Clinical Outcomes ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Chronic Care ◽  
Practice Nurses ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Care Workers

INTRODUCTION: Care Plus is a New Zealand chronic care initiative. It provides funding for extra primary care visits for patients with chronic diseases and aims to improve chronic care management, primary health care team work and reduce inequalities in health care. This mixed methodology study aimed to explore characteristics within practices that may contribute to improved clinical outcomes for Care Plus. METHODS: A focus group interview was conducted with a group of health professionals involved in Care Plus in a North Island Primary Health Organisation (PHO). Participants were selected because of their ‘expert status’. Interview analysis used a general inductive approach. A questionnaire was sent to all practice nurses to determine prevalence of characteristics derived from the focus group. FINDINGS: Seven primary care workers involved in Care Plus participated in a focus group from which three major themes emerged: nursing factors, practice organisation factors and general practitioner (GP) factors. Sub-themes identified as patient-centredness, assertive follow-up, nursing knowledge, referral to other health professionals, dedicated appointment times, long consultation time, low cost, GP commitment and teamwork were all considered to be characteristics that could lead to improved clinical outcomes. Questionnaire responses from 18 practice nurses suggest that GPs are under-involved with Care Plus. DISCUSSION: Patients with chronic conditions have complex needs. Care Plus is a nationwide initiative providing funding for chronic care. Some characteristics of nurses, practice organisation and GPs may lead to improved clinical outcomes in Care Plus. A number of these characteristics are supported in the literature. KEYWORDS: Chronic disease; primary health care; primary nursing care; disease management; patient care team

Technology and Human Resources Management in Health Care

2010 ◽  
pp. 574-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefane M. Kabene ◽  
King, Lisa ◽  
Candace J. Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Human Resources Management ◽  
Geographic Isolation ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Continued Education ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness

Health care has lagged behind most industries and businesses in its adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT). Many of the current information technologies and those to be deployed and developed over the next few years (e.g. electronic health records, telehealth applications, elearning technologies, social networking via Web 2.0) could be of benefit in health care delivery and improvement of the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of health care services. The uses of technology in human resources management (HRM) can help improve the medical care that health professionals provide to their patients. For instance, technology can be used to maximize communication, collaboration and support between health professionals separated by distance, as well as provide immediate and up-to-date patient care information. ICT can also be used for distance training and education for those facing geographic isolation and provide a medium through which continued education can be maintained for both rural and urban health professionals. However, due to the differences in barriers to ICT use found for each group, such as computer illiteracy, geographic isolation or poor infrastructure, different steps need to be taken in order to ensure the successful implementation and use of information technologies in both urban and rural communities in developed and developing regions across the world.

What is sober sex and how to achieve it?

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-35
Author(s):  
Remziye Kunelaki
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Clinical Experience ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Health Clinic ◽  
Clear Definition ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sex With Men ◽  
Definition Of

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide the first definition of sober sex and recommendations for health care professionals who work therapeutically with patients who struggle with intimacy after experiencing chemsex. Design/methodology/approach The recommendations are based on the clinical experience of a psychosexual therapist working with men having sex with men (MSM) in a Sexual Health clinic in central London. Findings The paper concludes that having a clear definition of sober sex and specific tools, such as healthy masturbation exercise, could prove helpful for health professionals who work with this cohort of patients. Originality/value This paper provides the first definition of sober sex and a clear set of guidelines for health professionals based on the clinical experience of the author.

scholarly journals Occupational citizenship

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lise Rosendal Østergaard
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Material Deprivation ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Agitation ◽  
Professional Health

Health workers are an overlooked category in the growing literature on health and citizenship. In this article I describe a 2012–2013 nationwide conflict in the public health care sector in Burkina Faso to explore how ideas about citizenship were mobilized in a situation of political agitation. I examine how public health care is done in a context of material deprivation, technological shortage, and great demand from the population. Three distinct repertoires of practice, routine, and bureaucracy are identified, through which health workers strive to make meaning of their work and engage in the practice of public health care. Drawing on these findings, I argue that adopting a citizenship framework offers an opportunity to improve our understanding of the multiple ways in which health workers manage the difficulties related to being (health professionals) and doing (professional health care) in rural Burkina Faso.

Conclusion Limits in the Interest of Healing

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph E. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Social Medicine ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Life Conditions ◽  
Individual Behaviors ◽  
Social Inequities ◽  
Professional Health

In the Conclusion, Davis summarizes the essays’ explorations of problematic reductionism. He then suggests practices that could have some countervailing holistic force in the three spheres of medicine, bioethics, and public health. In medicine, these might include distinguishing between “health” and professional health care, and mobilizing health professionals to defend their practice against the claims of consumerism. In bioethics, we must make medicine’s ethical values more transparent; rather than accepting a default set of stealth goods, we must deliberate in open recognition that the goods at stake are inescapably common and ethically charged. Finally, public health should reconnect with its social medicine roots, regaining a complementary (not subservient) relationship with medicine. This public health would again focus on life conditions and social inequities, not just on individual behaviors.

scholarly journals What is a health emergency? The difference in definition and understanding between patients and health professionals

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amee Morgans ◽  
Stephen J. Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Continuous Variable ◽  
Emergency Health Care ◽  
Health Event ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Emergency Health Services

Background. Investigations into ‘inappropriate’ use of emergency health services are limited by the lack of definition of what constitutes a health emergency. Position papers from Australian and international sources emphasise the patient’s right to access emergency healthcare, and the responsibility of emergency health care workers to provide treatment to all patients. However, discordance between the two perspectives remain, with literature labelling patient use of emergency health services as ‘inappropriate’. Objective. To define a ‘health emergency’ and compare patient and health professionals perspectives. Method. A sample of 600 emergency department (ED) patients were surveyed about a recent health experience and asked to rate their perceived urgency. This rating was compared to their triage score allocated at the hospital ED. Results. No significant relationship was found between the two ratings of urgency (P = 0.51). Conclusions. Differing definitions of a ‘health emergency’ may explain patient help-seeking behaviour when accessing emergency health resources including hospital ED and ambulance services. A new definition of health emergency that encapsulates the health professional and patient perspectives is proposed. An agreed definition of when emergency health resources should be used has the potential to improve emergency health services demand and patient flow issues, and optimise emergency health resource allocation. What is known about the topic? Although many patients’ access emergency healthcare services in an emergency, many patients’ access emergency healthcare services when their condition is non-urgent, and avoid using emergency health care when their condition requires. What does this paper add? This paper identifies that health professionals and patients have different perspectives on what constitutes an emergency and when emergency health resources should be used.This paper also provides a review of literature and triage policy papers that identify key differences in the assessment of a health event, and shows that health professionals base their assessment on knowledge and physiological measures, whereas patients used socio-emotional cues to identify medical urgency. What are the implications for practitioners? Practitioners cannot expect their patients to be able to accurately evaluate the urgency of a health event. An emergency is difficult to define as health conditions are dynamic, and may change in urgency over time, and relative urgency is a continuous variable, rather than a dichotomous ‘health emergency’ v. ‘not a health emergency’.

scholarly journals Socio-cultural Foundations of Caregiver Institutions: Lineage and Community Networks in Zimbabwe’s Health Care System

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-60
Author(s):  
W. Z. Sadomba ◽  
Lizzy Zinyemba
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Health Care Delivery System ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Cultural Foundations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health Advice ◽  
Professional Health

This study sought to investigate factors that affect caregiver compliance to professional health advice with reference to children. An anthropological approach was used and clients were observed from mainstream health facilities to their homes to analyze the broader social structures, in familial settings, that influence decision making and final practices of the caregiver who visits the health centres. The study revealed a more complex pattern with a sophisticated cultural structure of caregivers who control and make decisions other than the person who visits the facility. Often this structure is unknown to mainstream health professionals with consequences on efficacy. In addition to the social structures is a powerful belief system that conditions the caregiver. This significantly compromises the advice by mainstream health professionals in a dual health care delivery system as Zimbabwe's. The study recommends that to improve on caregiver compliance mainstream health professionals need to know and engage this other invisible caregiver structure.  

Technology and Human Resources Management in Health Care

2011 ◽  
pp. 292-312
Author(s):  
Stefane M. Kabene ◽  
King, Lisa ◽  
Candace J. Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Human Resources Management ◽  
Geographic Isolation ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Continued Education ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness

Health care has lagged behind most industries and businesses in its adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT). Many of the current information technologies and those to be deployed and developed over the next few years (e.g. electronic health records, telehealth applications, elearning technologies, social networking via Web 2.0) could be of benefit in health care delivery and improvement of the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of health care services. The uses of technology in human resources management (HRM) can help improve the medical care that health professionals provide to their patients. For instance, technology can be used to maximize communication, collaboration and support between health professionals separated by distance, as well as provide immediate and up-to-date patient care information. ICT can also be used for distance training and education for those facing geographic isolation and provide a medium through which continued education can be maintained for both rural and urban health professionals. However, due to the differences in barriers to ICT use found for each group, such as computer illiteracy, geographic isolation or poor infrastructure, different steps need to be taken in order to ensure the successful implementation and use of information technologies in both urban and rural communities in developed and developing regions across the world.

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