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ABSTRACT. The city of Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain is considered a 'healthy city' and has implemented sustainable actions to increase the mobility of its healthcare professionals. The objectives of this study [...]

Making progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) requires that health workers are adequate in numbers, prepared for their jobs and motivated to perform. In establishing the best ways to develop the health workforce, relatively little attention has been paid to the trends and implications of dual practice--concurrent employment in public and private sectors. We review recent research on dual practice for its potential to guide staffing policies in relation to UHC. Many studies describe the characteristics and correlates of dual practice and speculate about impacts, but there is very little evidence that Is directly relevant to policy-makers. No studies have evaluated the impact of policies on the characteristics of dual practice or implications for UHC. We address this lack and call for case studies of policy interventions on dual practice in different contexts. Such research requires investment in better data collection and greater determination on the part of researchers, research funding bodies and national research councils to overcome the difficulties of researching sensitive topics of health systems functions. Pour parvenir a la couverture sanitaire universelle, il est necessaire que les agents sanitaires soient en nombre suffisant, prepares a exercer leur metier et motives. Au moment de determiner les meilleurs moyens de renforcer le personnel de sante, peu d'attention a ete accordee aux tendances et aux consequences de la double pratique (cumul d'emplois dans les secteurs public et prive). Nous avons examine une etude recente sur la double pratique en raison de sa capacite a orienter les politiques de dotation en personnel par rapport a la couverture sanitaire universelle. De nombreuses etudes decrivent les caracteristiques et les correlais de la double pratique et suggerent des hypotheses quant a son impact, mais tres peu de donnees presentent un interet direct pour les dirigeants. Aucune etude n'a evalue l'impact des politiques sur les caracteristiques de la double pratique ou les consequences sur la couverture sanitaire universelle. Nous soulignons ce manque et recommandons la realisation d'etudes de cas portant sur les actions politiques relatives a la double pratique dans differents contextes. Ce travail de recherche requiert une meilleure collecte de donnees et une plus grande determination de la part des chercheurs, des organismes de financement de la recherche et des conseils nationaux de recherche pour surmonter les difficultes liees aux recherches sur des sujets delicats concernant les fonctions des systemes de sante. Progresar hacia una cobertura universal de salud (UHC, por sus siglas en ingles) requiere un numero adecuado de personal sanitario que este preparado para su trabajo y motivado para llevarlo a cabo. Al establecer las mejores formas para desarrollar el personal sanitario, se presto relativamente poca atencion a las tendencias e implicaciones de la doble practica (empleo concurrente en los sectores publicos y privados). Se reviso una reciente investigacion sobre la doble practica por su potencial para guiar las politicas de personal en relacion con la UHC. Muchos estudios describen las caracteristicas y correlaciones de la doble practica y especulan sobre sus efectos negativos, pero existen muy pocas pruebas de que sean directamente relevantes para los responsables politicos. Ningun estudio ha evaluado el impacto de las politicas en las caracteristicas de la doble practica o las implicaciones para la UHC. Se senala esta carencia y se reclaman estudios de casos de las Intervenciones politicas sobre la doble practica en diferentes contextos. Tal Investigacion requiere una Inversion en una mejor recopilacion de datos y una mayor determinacion por parte de los Investigadores, las entidades que financian la investigacion y los consejos nacionales de investigacion con el objetivo de superar las dificultades de investigar temas delicados del funcionamiento de los sistemas sanitarios., Introduction Over the last five years, universal health coverage (UHC) has become an agreed goal of global health policy and planning initiatives. (1,2) Target 3.8 of the Sustainable Development Goals [...]

Objective. Antibiotic resistance might be reduced if patients could be better informed regarding the lack of benefits of antibiotics for children with viral infections and avoid antibiotic prescriptions in these circumstances. This study investigated whether children having health professionals as parents, a group whose parents are expected to have more medical knowledge and expertise, are less likely than other children to receive antibiotics for nasopharyngitis (common colds), upper respiratory tract infections (URIs), and acute bronchitis. Methods. Retrospective analyses were conducted by using National Health Insurance data for children of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and non-health personnel, who had visited hospital outpatient departments or physician clinics for common colds, URIs, and acute bronchitis in Taiwan in 2000. A total of 53 733 episodes of care for common colds, URIs, and acute bronchitis in a nationally representative sample of children (aged [less than or equal to] 18 years) living in nonremote areas were analyzed. Results. The study found that, after adjusting for characteristics of the children (demographic, socioeconomic, and health status) and the treating physicians (demographic, practice style, and setting), children with a physician (odds ratio [OR]: 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.36-0.68) or a pharmacist (OR: 0.69; 95% Ch 0.52-0.91) as a parent were significantly less likely than other children to receive antibiotic prescriptions. The likelihood of receiving an antibiotic for the children of nurses (OR: 0.91; 95% Ch 0.77-1.09) was similar to that for children in the comparison group. Conclusions. This finding supports our hypothesis that better parental education does help to reduce the frequency of injudicious antibiotic prescribing. Medical knowledge alone, however, may not fully reduce the overuse of antibiotics. Physician-parents, the expected medically savvy parents, can serve as a benchmark for the improvement potentially achievable in Taiwan through a combination of educational, regulatory, communication, and policy efforts targeted at more appropriate antibiotic prescribing in ambulatory settings. antibiotic prescribing, children, health-professional parents, Taiwan. ABBREVIATIONS. URI, upper respiratory infection; NHI, National Health Insurance; ICD-9-CM, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification; SES, socioeconomic status; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval., The rapid spread of antibiotic resistance in community pathogens has underscored the urgency for reducing unnecessary antibiotic use. (1-3) The overprescription of antimicrobial drugs in the ambulatory care setting can [...]

Introduction Modern health care is mainly delivered through hospitals that are established to meet the needs of patients. Willan (1990) defines hospital as 'a diagnostic and treatment facility providing board [...]

Stigma towards people living with mental health problems is often the result of deep-rooted fears about irrational behaviour or loss of control. (1) When we conducted a study of recruitment [...]