| 1. |
- Buttigieg, Sandra C., et al.
(författare)
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Researching Ageism in Health-Care and Long Term Care
- 2018
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Ingår i: Contemporary Perspectives on Ageism. - Cham : Springer. - 9783319738192 - 9783319738208 ; , s. 493-515
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The literature across different fields defines ageism ambiguously and widely covers a span of intolerant knowledge, values, attitudes and behaviors towards older adults or more generally toward people of a certain age. In this chapter we provide an overview of how ageism is defined, measured, and assessed in health care and long-term care. In so doing, we aim to bridge the gap between the concept and measurement of ageism in these two contexts and to provide some general insights into the approaches, which researchers can apply to assess ageism in these settings. In this chapter, we therefore aim to answer the following questions namely (i) Why is it important to know how ageism in healthcare and long-term care has been empirically studied? (ii) What evidence for the existence of ageism among key stakeholders (e.g. health care professionals and long-term care workers, family members and older adults) is reported in empirical research covering these two contexts? and (iii) Which are the conceptual and methodological approaches used to measure and assess ageism involving these key stakeholders in the two contexts?
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| 2. |
- Grima, Simon, et al.
(författare)
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High Out-of-Pocket Health Spending in Countries With a Mediterranean Connection
- 2018
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Public Health. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-2565. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we analyzed healthcare provision and health expenditure across six Mediterranean countries that adopt the National Health System (Beveridge model) and that form part of the European Union (EU) with the main aim being that of analyzing and comparing out-of-pocket health spending in countries with a European Mediterranean connection. To this end, we considered various economic indicators and statistics to derive commonalities and differences across these countries and also compared trends in these indicators to those observed across the rest of the EU. We then analyzed these findings in light of other data related to the quality of healthcare delivery and the infrastructure of the health system and discussed recent developments in healthcare within each country and the main challenges faced by the respective health systems. The results show that on average, Mediterranean countries spend less on total healthcare expenditure (THE) than the EU average, both as a proportion of GDP, as well as in per capita terms. This is primarily driven by lower-than-EU-average public funding of healthcare. The 2008/2009 macro-economic and financial crisis had a significant impact on the countries under review, and explains the persistent reductions in public health spending as part of the austerity measures put in force across sectors. On the flipside, Mediterranean countries have a higher presence of private health providers in total funding, thereby explaining the higher Out-of-Pocket (OOPs) health expenditures in these countries relative to the EU-average. With regard to the overall health infrastructure in these countries, we observed that although the supply of physicians is largely in line with the rest of the EU, there is under-supply when it comes to hospital beds. This may be symptomatic of lower government funding. Nonetheless, all countries score highly in the evaluation of the quality of health services, as recorded by international rankings like the WHO's 2000 metric, whereas health system performance indicators, namely mortality rates and life expectancy reveal favorable health outcomes in the Mediterranean EU countries. The findings in this paper may be seen in light of the Mediterranean region's lifestyle in terms of diet, health behavior, health beliefs and shared culture. In particular, the higher out-of-pocket expenditure may reflect the tendency for one-to-one relationships with private clinicians and the pursuit of person-centered care (1). Additionally, the Mediterranean people may not be as disciplined as their European counterparts in accessing and using the public health sector. The lower THE also reflects the fact that the Mediterranean countries are less wealthy than the more economically-advanced European countries.
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| 3. |
- Swedberg, Karl, 1944, et al.
(författare)
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Testing cost containment of future healthcare with maintained or improved quality—The COSTCARES project
- 2021
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Ingår i: Health Science Reports. - : Wiley. - 2398-8835. ; 4:2
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Increasing healthcare costs need to be contained in order to maintain equality of access to care for all EU citizens. A cross-disciplinary consortium of experts was supported by the EU FP7 research programme, to produce a roadmap on cost containment, while maintaining or improving the quality of healthcare. The roadmap comprises two drivers: person-centred care and health promotion; five critical enablers also need to be addressed: information technology, quality measures, infrastructure, incentive systems, and contracting strategies. Method: In order to develop and test the roadmap, a COST Action project was initiated: COST−CARES, with 28 participating countries. This paper provides an overview of evidence about the effects of each of the identified enablers. Intersections between the drivers and the enablers are identified as critical for the success of future cost containment, in tandem with maintained or improved quality in healthcare. This will require further exploration through testing. Conclusion: Cost containment of future healthcare, with maintained or improved quality, needs to be addressed through a concerted approach of testing key factors. We propose a framework for test lab design based on these drivers and enablers in different European countries.
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| 4. |
- Zammit, Dorothy, et al.
(författare)
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Digital virtual consultations and improved stakeholders’ health and wellbeing amongst hospital doctors
- 2023
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI. - 2071-1050. ; 15:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The past several decades have seen a shift in patient care towards digitalisation, which has ushered in a new era of health care delivery and improved sustainability and resilience of health systems, with positive impacts on both internal and external stakeholders. This study’s aim was to understand the role of digital virtual consultations in improving internal and external stakeholders’ health, as well as wellbeing among hospital doctors. A qualitative research approach was used with semi-structured online interviews administered to hospital doctors. The interviews showed that the doctors viewed digital virtual consultations as supplementary to in-person consultations, and as tools to reduce obstacles related to distance and time. If the necessary infrastructure and technology were in place, doctors would be willing to use these options. Implementing these technologies would improve the medical profession’s flexibility on the one hand; but it might affect doctors’ work–life balance if consultations extended beyond standard working hours.
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