IHF 40th World Hospital Congress

The IHF 40th World Hospital Congress will be held 31 October – 3 November 2016 in Durban, South Africa with the theme: Addressing the Challenge of Patient-centered Care and Safety.

The World Hospital Congress of the International Hospital Federation (IHF) is a unique global forum that brings together key drivers of national and international policy, management, financial trends and solutions in healthcare management and service delivery. Through this forum multidisciplinary exchange of knowledge, expertise and experiences are facilitated, together with dialogue on best practices in leadership in hospital and healthcare management and delivery of services.

For further information please click here: IHF 40th World Hospital Congress

9th European Public Health Conference

The 9th European Public Health Conference will be held in Vienna with the theme of ‘All for Health, Health for All’. A healthy population is a key requirement for the achievement of society’s goals. Good health for all enhances quality of life, improves workforce productivity, increases the capacity for learning, strengthens families and communities, supports sustainable habitats and environments, and contributes to security, poverty reduction and social inclusion. Increasingly, communities, employers and industries are expecting and demanding strong coordinated government action to promote health in all sectors of society and avoid duplication and fragmentation of actions.

Abstracts can be submitted from 1 February until 1 May 2016 (23:59 Central European Time).

Registration for the 9th EPH Conference opens 1 March 2016.

For more information, click here:9th EPH Conference.

Lessons from transforming health services delivery: Compendium of initiatives in the WHO European Region

In order for health services delivery to accelerate gains in health outcomes it must continuously adapt and evolve according to the changing health landscape. At present, the case for change is compelling. In the context of both new challenges and opportunities, initiatives to transform services delivery across the WHO European Region has emerged. This Compendium demonstrates the diversity in activity, describing examples of health services delivery transformations from each Member State in the Region. The initiatives vary greatly in their scope and stages of implementation, from early changes to initiatives at-scale. When taken together, these examples offer unique insights for setting-up, implementing and sustaining transformations. A summary of 10 lessons learned attempts to synthesize key findings and consolidate insights derived from experiences.

Lessons from Brazil: on the difficulties of building a universal health care system

A number of developing countries that are often referred to as emerging economies have turned their attention to addressing their public health issues in more comprehensive and systematic ways. While the trajectory of this particular initiative and similar ones elsewhere is yet to be determined, the aim of this piece is to draw some lessons from an emerging economy that, for contingent historical and political reasons, started building a universal public health care system earlier: Brazil. The key argument offered from the Brazilian experience is that building a robust public health care system based on the principles of universality and equity is a challenge of a political economy nature and one that ought to be met at multiple levels simultaneously. 

Changes in Hospital–Physician Affiliations in U.S. Hospitals and Their Effect on Quality of Care

Many U.S. policymakers believe that increased integration between hospitals and physicians may foster better care and potentially decrease health care spendind. The logic behind this notion is straightforward: When physicians are employed or otherwise more substantially influenced by the hospitals in which the work, they are less likely to focus on generating revenue to maintain an independent practice and more likely to focus on patient care. The objetive of this article was to examine changes in United States acute care hospitals that reported employment relationships with their physicians and to determine whether quality of care improved after the hospitals switched to this integration model. 

Identification of influencing factors and strategies to improve communication between general practitioners and community nurses: a qualitative focus group study

As the number of patients with complex healthcare needs grows, inter-professionaal collaboration between primary care professionals must be constantly optimized. General practitioners (GPs) and community nurses (CNs) are key professions in primary care; however, poor GP-CN communication is common, and research into the factors influencing its quality is limited. 

Family Medicine Clinic: a case study of a hospital–family medicine practice redesign to improve chronic disease care in the community in Singapore

Singapore´s health care system is strained by the health care needs of a rapidly aging population. The unprecedented collaboration between a public hospital and a private family practice to set up the Family Medicine Clinic (FMC) to co-manage patients with chronic desease is an example of efforts to shift care to community. 

The complex challenge of providing patient-centred perinatal healthcare in rural Uganda:A qualitative enquiry

Increasing research and reflections on quality of healthcare across the perinatal period slowly propels the global community to lobby for improved standards of quality perinatal healthcare, especially in low-and- middle- income countries. 

The purpose of this qualitative study was to obtain a deeper understanding of how interpersonal dimensions of the quality of care relate to real-life experiences of perinatal care, in a resource-contrained local health system. 

Measuring patient-centred system performance: a scoping review of patient-centred care quality indicators

Patient-centred care (PCC) is one of the six dimensions of healthcare and was formally described by the Institute of Medicine in 2001 as healthcare that respects and responds to the preferences, needs and values of the individual patients throughout all healthcare decisions. PCC is an approach that has become central to policies and programming to improve healthcare efficiencies and address patient safety issues.
In that sense, The shift to the patient-centred care (PCC) model as a healthcare delivery paradigm calls for systematic measurement and evaluation. In an attempt to develop patient-centred quality indicators (PC-QIs), this study aimed to identify quality indicators that can be used to measure PCC

Shared Decision Making to Improve Care and Reduce Costs

Asleeper provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) encourages greater use of shared decision making in health care. For many health situations in which there's not one clearly superior course of treatment, shared decision making can ensure that medical care better aligns with patients' preferences and values. Shared decision making has the potential to provide numerous benefits for patients, clinicians, and the health care system, including increased patient knowledge, less anxiety over the care process, improved health outcomes, reductions in unwarranted variation in care and costs, and greater alignment of care with patients' values.

Development and Testing of the Provider and Staff Perceptions of Integrated Care (PSPIC) Survey

This article discusses development and testing of the Provider and Staff Perceptions of Integrated Care Survey, a 21-item questionnaire, informed by Singer and colleagues’ seven-construct framework. Questionnaires were sent to 2,936 providers and staff at 100 federally qualified health centers and other safety net clinics in 10 Midwestern U.S. states. Item analyses, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis were undertaken.

The development and reform of public health in China from 1949 to 2019

Public health system plays a vital role in the development of health sector in China and protects the health of Chinese people. However, there are few comprehensive reviews and studies focusing on its evolution and reform. It is worthwhile to pay attention to the public health development in China, given that the history and structure of public health system have their own characteristics in China.

The study is a retrospective review of the development public health over seven decades in China. It presents the findings from some national or provincial survey data, interviews with key informants, reviews of relevant published papers and policy contents

Integrated care workforce development: university-community collaboration

Behavioral health workforce shortages to provide quality care services for children, adolescents, and transitional age youth are well established. This paper highlights the workforce shortage and the need to infuse interprofessional education to engage in integrated care for children, adolescents and transitional age youth with behavioral health needs. 

End-line Assessment of Integrated People-Centered Health Services in Nelson Mandela Metro Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Since 2013, the USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST) Project has been working closely with the South African Department of Health (DOH) and its partners in five provinces to accelerate the reduction of morbidity and mortality through improving access, utilization, and satisfaction with essential HIV services. Drawing on its partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) Service Delivery and Safety Department to promote people-centered care as an essential pillar of health service quality, ASSIST secured support from the USAID Office of Health Systems to pilot WHO’s global framework on integrated people-centered health services (IPCHS) in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan District in Eastern Cape Province.

The pilot project consisted of a baseline assessment to harvest patient, provider, and decision maker perceptions and satisfaction regarding integration and patient centeredness in HIV services at onset of the project; training in quality improvement and IPCHS concepts and methodology; facility-based identification ...

Community perceptions of universal health coverage in eight districts of the Northern and Volta regions of Ghana

Ever since Ghana embraced the 1978 Alma-Ata Declaration, it has consigned priority to achieving ‘Health for All.’ The Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) Initiative was established to close gaps in geographic access to services and health equity. CHPS is Ghana’s flagship Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Initiative and will soon completely cover the country with community-located services.

This paper aims to identify community perceptions of gaps in CHPS maternal and child health services that detract from its UHC goals and to elicit advice on how the contribution of CHPS to UHC can be improved.

Patient feedback to improve quality of patient-centred care in public hospitals: a systematic review of the evidence

Public health services have been moving towards putting patients at the centre of their care. This paper aimed to review systematically the published literature relating to interventions informed by patient feedback for improvement to quality of care in hospital settings. Multi-component interventions which targeted both individual and organisational levels were more effective than single interventions. Care is truly patient-centred when it is guided by the perspective of the one that matters - the patient.

Quality of Care Transitions: Older Adults Experiences in An Integrated Care Trust

The transition of care from hospital to home is a high-risk time for older adults. The Partners at Care Transitions (PACT) programme aims to improve safety and quality of care transitions. We aimed to test the feasibility of using the Partners at Care Transitions Measure (PACT-M) to evaluate older adults’ experiences of the transition from hospital to home in an Inner London Integrated Care Trust and to identify factors impacting transition quality.

Global Health Compassion Rounds: Compassion, WASH, and Quality of Care

The world requires urgent action on WASH for the benefit of people across the world. Compassion is increasingly recognized as a critical consideration for health and development. The need for compassion—awareness, empathy and action—to be at the heart of quality of care efforts has never been so important. The confluence of these three areas—compassion/WASH/quality—requires active exploration to help us collectively accelerate urgent action. Join us as we learn how specific WASH tools are vectors for compassion in the health arena and explore how this “compassion-WASH-quality” triangulation can yield positive results for people.

The conceptualisation of patient-centred care: A case study of diabetes management in public facilities in southern Malawi

Patient-centred care (PCC) is one of the pillars of Malawi’s quality of care policyinitiatives. The role of PCC in facilitating quality service delivery is well documented, and its importance may heighten in chronic disease management. Yet, PCC conceptualisation is known to be context specific. The prominent themes emerging from the participants’ conceptualisation of PCC included the following: meeting individual needs, goals and expectations, accessing medication, supporting relationship building, patient involvement, information sharing, holistic care, timeliness and being realistic.

Philosophical knowledge is warranted for the successful implementation of person-centred care

One potentially restrictive environment of person-centred care might be the intensive care unit (ICU) where RNs working in ICUs on a daily basis are caring for critically ill patients in a highly technological and stressful milieu. Nursing care for critically ill patients at the ICU is described as task-oriented and mainly based on the patient’s medical needs. The purpose of this contemporary issue paper is to suggest that a photograph of the patient could be used as a tool to support RNs working in ICU in applying person-centred care and their understanding of the philosophical underpinnings for person-centred care. 

Development of the person-centered prenatal care scale for people of color

Given the stark disparities in maternal mortality and adverse birth outcomes among Black, indigenous, and other people of color, there is a need to better understand and measure how individuals from these communities experience their care during pregnancy. This study aimed to develop and validate a tool that can be used to measure person-centered prenatal care that reflects the experiences of people of color. It prsents 2 versions of the person-centered prenatal care scale. Both versions have high validity and reliability in a sample made up predominantly of Black women. This scale will facilitate measurement to improve person-centered prenatal care for people of color and could contribute to reducing disparities in birth outcomes.

How is patient-centred care conceptualized in obstetrical health? comparison of themes from concept analyses in obstetrical health- and patient-centred care

Due to gender inequities that exist for women of childbearing age, there exists a need to deliver care tailored to their needs and preferences. Patient-centred care (PCC) can be used to meet these needs. This review aims to compare patient care delivery between PCC and obstetrical care. This can help us address how PCC should be delivered to women before, during and after pregnancy versus how it is delivered to patients regardless of sex.

Successes and challenges of primary health care in Australia: A scoping review and comparative analysis

Australia has achieved universal health insurance for its population since 1975 - a major step forward for increasing access to primary care (PC). Nevertheless, there are reports of several multi-layered challenges, including inequity, that persist. This analysis aims to undertake a scoping review of the success, explanatory factors, and challenges of Primary Health Care (PHC) in Australia guided by the World Health Organization (WHO)-defined key characteristics of good PC.

Purchasing for quality chronic care: summary report.