Group decision making in health care: a case study of multidisciplinary meetings

Recent studies have demonstrated that Multi-Disciplinary Meetings (MDM) practiced in some medical contexts can contribute to positive health care outcomes. The group reasoning and decision-making in MDMs has been found to be most effective when deliberations revolve around the patient’s needs, comprehensive information is available during the meeting, core members attend and the MDM is effectively facilitated. This article presents a case study of the MDMs in cancer care in a region of Australia. The case study draws on a group reasoning model called the Reasoning Community model to analyse MDM deliberations to illustrate that many factors are important to support group reasoning, not solely the provision of pertinent information. The case study has implications for the use of data analytics in any group reasoning context.

Child Health Care in Ireland

The Irish health care system is based on a complex and costly mix of private, statutory, and voluntary provisions. The majority of health care expenditure comes from the state, with a significant proportion of acute hospital care funded from private insurance, but there are relatively high out-of-pocket costs for most service users. There is free access to acute hospital care, but not for primary care, for all children. About 40% of the population have free access to primary care. Universal preventive public health services, including vaccination and immunization, newborn blood spot screening, and universal neonatal hearing screening are free. Major health challenges include poverty, obesity, drug and alcohol use, and mental health. The health care system has been dominated for the last 5 years by the impact of the current recession, which has led to very sharp cuts in health care expenditure. It is unclear if the necessary substantial reform of the system will happen. Government policy calls for a move toward a patient-centered, primary care-led system, but without very substantial transfers of resources and investment in Information and Communication Technology, this is unlikely to occur. The paper has been published as part of an overall report of Child Health in Europe: Diversity of Child Health Care in Europe: A Study of the European Paediatric Association/Union of National European Paediatric Societies and Associations http://www.jpeds.com/issue/S0022-3476(16)X0010-8 . (J Pediatr 2016;177S:S87-106).  

Children with Special Health Care Needs: Comparison of the Effects of Home Care Setting, Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care Setting, and Long-Term Care Setting on Child and Family Health Outcomes and Health Care Service Use

Technological advances during the past 30 years have dramatically improved survival rates for children with life-threatening conditions (preterm births, congenital anomalies, disease, or injury) resulting in children with special health care needs (CSHCN), children who have or are at increased risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition and who require health and related services beyond that required by children generally. There are approximately 10.2 million of these children in the United States or one in five households with a child with special health care needs. Care for these children is limited to home care, medical day care (Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care; P-PEC) or a long term care (LTC) facility. There is very limited research examining health outcomes of CSHCN and their families. The purpose of this research was to compare the effects of home care settings, P-PEC settings, and LTC settings on child health and functioning, family health and function, and health care service use of families with CSHCN. Eighty four CSHCN ages 2 to 21 years having a medically fragile or complex medical condition that required continual monitoring were enrolled with their parents/guardians. Interviews were conducted monthly for five months using the PedsQL TM Generic Core Module for child health and functioning, PedsQL TM Family Impact Module for family health and functioning, and Access to Care from the NS-CSHCN survey for health care services. Descriptive statistics, chi square, and ANCOVA were conducted to determine differences across care settings. Children in the P-PEC settings had a highest health care quality of life (HRQL) overall including physical and psychosocial functioning. Parents/guardians with CSHCN in LTC had the highest HRQL including having time and energy for a social life and employment. Parents/guardians with CSHCN in home care settings had the poorest HRQL including physical and psychosocial functioning with cognitive difficulties, difficulties with worry, communication, and daily activities. They had the fewest hours of employment and the most hours providing direct care for their children. Overall health care service use was the same across the care settings.

Quality of life and chronic disease in patients receiving primary health care

Problem Statement: Chronic disease entails physical, psychological and social issues with a decrease in the quality of life. The assessment of QoL has been applied as indicator in patients with chronic diseases. Research Questions: What is the quality of life in patients with chronic disease? What are the socio-demographic variables that influence the quality of life in patients? Purpose: To assess the quality of life in patients suffering from chronic disease and identify socio-demographic variables which influence the quality of life of patients suffering from chronic disease. Research Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analytical study using a sample composed of 228 users (134 females) from a Family Health Unit in the municipality of Viseu. Data collection was made by means of a questionnaire, consisting of sociodemographic variables, the SF-12 scale and the existence of chronic disease was assessed through the questions – “Do you currently suffer from any chronic disease?”; “If so, which one(s)?”. Findings: The most common chronic diseases were hypertension (59.9%). Female patients with a chronic disease reported worse physical functioning, role-physical and role-emotional; increased bodily pain and better quality of life regarding general health. Male patients showed worse role-physical, increased bodily pain and vitality. Sociodemographic variables which were associated with quality of life were area of residence, academic qualifications and work situation. Conclusion: Chronic disease affects quality of life negatively. Quality of life in both patients groups was associated with socio-demographic variables. Health-related quality of life is an essential issue and should be considered as a priority in health policies.

Satisfaction of users of primary health care with nursing care : sample of the central region of Portugal

Introdução: A satisfação dos doentes constitui um indicador indispensável para a avaliação da qualidade dos cuidados e há evidência da sua correlação com os resultados em saúde. A satisfação com os cuidados de saúde é um conceito multidimensional que considera aspetos como acesso, organização e interação doente - profissional. Consideramos que os cuidados de enfermagem, em particular, são fundamentais no processo saúde/doença. Objetivos: Validar uma escala para avaliar a satisfação dos utentes face aos cuidados de enfermagem, adaptado do instrumento EUROPEP e avaliar a satisfação dos utentes dos cuidados de saúde primários da região centro de Portugal. Material e métodos: Estudo transversal, com uma amostra de 827 utentes adultos (maioria do sexo feminino 64,4%) com uma média de idade de 50,08±18,58 anos. Os dados foram recolhidos através de um questionário, constituído por variáveis sociodemográficas, o instrumento EUROPEP (Ferreira, 1995) para avaliar a satisfação com os cuidados de saúde primários e para avaliar a satisfação especificamente com a equipa de enfermagem elaboramos questões adaptadas do instrumento EUROPEP e agrupadas nas dimensões relação de ajuda, dimensão interpessoal e instrumental. A consistência interna, reprodutibilidade e análise de conteúdo foram avaliados com recurso ao SPSS 23.0; considerando a consistência aceitável para um de Cronbach > 0,70. O coeficiente para cada item é apresentado com um intervalo de confiança de 95%. Resultados: Em todas as dimensões do questionário EUROPEP, a maior percentagem de satisfação com os cuidados situou-se entre “boa” e “muito boa”. As dimensões criadas para avaliar especificamente os cuidados de enfermagem apresentaram um coeficiente de α de Cronbach total de 0,972. Conclusões: Estes resultados sugerem que as dimensões criadas para avaliar os cuidados de enfermagem serão úteis para a investigação na população Portuguesa. A satisfação do utente é decisiva para a qualidade e eficiência dos cuidados prestados, sendo necessário o compromisso de todos os prestadores na implementação de práticas sistemáticas de gestão que conduzam à satisfação, dando particular atenção à melhoria contínua dos processos organizacionais. Palavras-chave: Satisfação dos Utentes; cuidados de saúde primários, cuidados de enfermagem, adulto, Portugal

Structured professional judgement approach to risk assessment: generalisability across patient groups for the prediction of adverse outcomes in secure mental health care

This is a redacted version of the the final thesis. Copyright material has been removed to comply with UK Copyright Law.

Health care-associated native valve endocarditis: importance of non-nosocomial acquisition.

BACKGROUND: The clinical profile and outcome of nosocomial and non-nosocomial health care-associated native valve endocarditis are not well defined. OBJECTIVE: To compare the characteristics and outcomes of community-associated and nosocomial and non-nosocomial health care-associated native valve endocarditis. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: 61 hospitals in 28 countries. PATIENTS: Patients with definite native valve endocarditis and no history of injection drug use who were enrolled in the ICE-PCS (International Collaboration on Endocarditis Prospective Cohort Study) from June 2000 to August 2005. MEASUREMENTS: Clinical and echocardiographic findings, microbiology, complications, and mortality. RESULTS: Health care-associated native valve endocarditis was present in 557 (34%) of 1622 patients (303 with nosocomial infection [54%] and 254 with non-nosocomial infection [46%]). Staphylococcus aureus was the most common cause of health care-associated infection (nosocomial, 47%; non-nosocomial, 42%; P = 0.30); a high proportion of patients had methicillin-resistant S. aureus (nosocomial, 57%; non-nosocomial, 41%; P = 0.014). Fewer patients with health care-associated native valve endocarditis had cardiac surgery (41% vs. 51% of community-associated cases; P < 0.001), but more of the former patients died (25% vs. 13%; P < 0.001). Multivariable analysis confirmed greater mortality associated with health care-associated native valve endocarditis (incidence risk ratio, 1.28 [95% CI, 1.02 to 1.59]). LIMITATIONS: Patients were treated at hospitals with cardiac surgery programs. The results may not be generalizable to patients receiving care in other types of facilities or to those with prosthetic valves or past injection drug use. CONCLUSION: More than one third of cases of native valve endocarditis in non-injection drug users involve contact with health care, and non-nosocomial infection is common, especially in the United States. Clinicians should recognize that outpatients with extensive out-of-hospital health care contacts who develop endocarditis have clinical characteristics and outcomes similar to those of patients with nosocomial infection. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: None.

Do health care providers use online patient ratings to improve the quality of care?

Background: Physician-rating websites have become a popular tool to create more transparency about the quality of health care providers. So far, it remains unknown whether online-based rating websites have the potential to contribute to a better standard of care. Objective: Our goal was to examine which health care providers use online rating websites and for what purposes, and whether health care providers use online patient ratings to improve patient care. Methods: We conducted an online-based cross-sectional study by surveying 2360 physicians and other health care providers (September 2015). In addition to descriptive statistics, we performed multilevel logistic regression models to ascertain the effects of providers' demographics as well as report card-related variables on the likelihood that providers implement measures to improve patient care. Results: Overall, more than half of the responding providers surveyed (54.66%, 1290/2360) used online ratings to derive measures to improve patient care (implemented measures: mean 3.06, SD 2.29). Ophthalmologists (68%, 40/59) and gynecologists (65.4%, 123/188) were most likely to implement any measures. The most widely implemented quality measures were related to communication with patients (28.77%, 679/2360), the appointment scheduling process (23.60%, 557/2360), and office workflow (21.23%, 501/2360). Scaled-survey results had a greater impact on deriving measures than narrative comments. Multilevel logistic regression models revealed medical specialty, the frequency of report card use, and the appraisal of the trustworthiness of scaled-survey ratings to be significantly associated predictors for implementing measures to improve patient care because of online ratings. Conclusions: Our results suggest that online ratings displayed on physician-rating websites have an impact on patient care. Despite the limitations of our study and unintended consequences of physician-rating websites, they still may have the potential to improve patient care.

Sistema Único de Saúde: de que sistema se trata?

Constata-se que a reforma sanitária brasileira representa um avanço na direção de uma concepção avançada de sistema de saúde. Entretanto o SUS, com toda a materialidade das reformas ao nível macro induzidas a partir dos avanços na legislação, a implantação da regionalização e hierarquização da assistência, e dos instrumentos de gestão, assim como todas as grandes organizações modernas, padece de problemas de coordenação na operação de suas ações. Este trabalho pretende discutir as possibilidades e limites das mudanças organizacionais induzidas pela implementação do SUS na configuração dos sistemas locoregionais de saúde, à luz das experiências internacionais e das contribuições mais recentes das teorias organizacionais, no contexto da transição do fordismo à acumulação flexível. A partir do referencial da teoria dos sistemas, considera-se a contribuição das teorias organizacionais fordistas, pós-fordistas e pós-modernistas na especificidade do campo da saúde coletiva, para discutir a efetividade dos seus subsistemas cibernéticos do SUS: controle, avaliação, regulação, auditoria e vigilância em saúde, no complexo contexto da configuração do poder deste setor. Verifica-se que o SUS, constituído a partir de culturas organizacionais fordistas, do antigo INAMPS e da Saúde Pública tradicional, não tem obtido êxito em configurar estruturas organizacionais competentes, na medida em que reproduz os modelos tradicionais nos seus sistemas de controle. Esta dificuldade em parte deve-se ao momento histórico, que fez coincidir o momento dos avanços na legislação, em direção à ampliação do direito à saúde, com o momento das reestruturações dos aparelhos estatais decorrente da crise global do modo de produção fordista, e com as profundas transformações demográficas, epidemiológicas e da tecnologia da assistência médica. Por outro lado, a disponibilidade de soluções pósfordistas propicia um padrão para a conformação de novas regras e novos modos de regulação do sistema de saúde, que induzam a comportamentos auto-reguladores por parte dos prestadores de serviços de saúde, considerando as metas de equidade e de melhoria da saúde da população. Conclui-se que a necessária reforma do setor saúde demanda o fortalecimento de uma tecno-burocracia protegida contra injunções político-partidárias, que possibilite a incubação uma cultura organizacional profissional em todas as esferas de governo e níveis de gestão, que incentive um trabalho em saúde competente e moralmente comprometido com as finalidades do SUS nesse país.

Be rich or don’t be sick: Estimating Vietnamese patients’ risk of falling into destitution

This paper represents the first research attempt to estimate the probabilities for Vietnamese patients to fall into destitution facing financial burdens occurring during their curative stay in hospital. The study models the risk against such factors as level of insurance coverage, location of patient, costliness of treatment, among others. The results show that very high probabilities of destitution, approximately 70%, apply to a large group of patients, who are nonresident, poor and ineligible for significant insurance coverage. There is also a probability of 58% that low-income patients who are seriously ill and face higher health care costs would quit their treatment. These facts will put Vietnamese government’s ambitious plan of increasing both universal coverage (UC) to 100% of expenditure and rate of UC beneficiaries to 100% at a serious test. The study also raises issues of asymmetric information and alternative financing options for the poor, who are most exposed to risk of destitution, following market-based health care reforms.

Decentralization and privatization in Portuguese health reforms

ABSTRACT - The Portuguese National Health Service (SNS), a universal, centralized and public owned health care system, exhibits an extraordinary record of equalization in the access to health care and health gains in the late thirty years. However, the most recent history of the Portuguese health reform is pervaded by the influence of decentralization and privatization. Decentralization has been present in the system design since the 1976 Constitution, at least in theory. Private ownership of health care suppliers and out-ofpocket expenditures, on the financing side, both have a long tradition of relevance in the NHS mix of services. The initial aim of this study was to demonstrate expected parallelism between health reforms and public administration reforms, where a common pattern of joint decentralization and privatization was observed in many countries. Observers would be tempted to consider these two movements as common signs of new public management (NPM) developments. They have common objectives, are established around the core concepts of gains in effectiveness, efficiency, equity and quality of public services, through improved accountability. However, in practice, in Portugal, each movement was developed in a totally separated way. Besides those rooted in the NPM theory, there are few visible signs of association between decentralization and privatization. Decentralization, in the Portuguese SNS, was never intended to be followed by a privatization movement; it was seen merely as a public administration tool. Private management of health services, as stated in the most recent SNS legislation, was never intended to have decentralization as a condition or as a consequence. Paradoxically, in the Portuguese context, it has led invariably to centralized control. While presented as separate instruments for a common purpose, the association between decentralization and privatization still lacks a convincing demonstration. Many common health care management stereotypes remain to be checked out if we want to look for eventual associations between these two organizational tools.

Community Care Access Centre accountability reforms: executive director perceptions /

The purpose of this study was to explore how four purposefully selected executive directors of Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) understood the idea of accountability, and how they viewed the accountability reforms that had been imposed on their sector of health care over the previous three years. Data were collected through personal interviews and a reflective journal. An analysis of key documents and the reflective journal informed the data analysis. The findings suggest that executive directors perceive that accountability relationships have shifted since reforms have been implemented. They noted that CCACs have become more accountable to the provincial government at the expense of accountability to the local community. From their perspective, the demand for greater standardization and bureaucratization has left fewer opportunities to adapt programs to meet particular community needs and has slowed the ability to respond quickly to community inquiries and concerns.