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Empathy and Efficiency in Healthcare at Times of Austerity.
- Source :
- Health Care Analysis; Sep2019, Vol. 27 Issue 3, p171-184, 14p
- Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- Efficiency is an important value for all publicly funded healthcare systems. Limited resources need to be used prudently and wisely in order to ensure best possible outcomes and waste avoidance. Since 2010, the drive for efficiency, in the UK, has acquired a new impetus, as the country embarked on an 'age of austerity' purportedly to balance its books and reduce national deficit. Although the NHS did not suffer any direct budget cuts, the austerity policies imposed on the welfare system, including social and mental healthcare, have had a direct and detrimental impact on the healthcare service. This paper draws from a qualitative study conducted in three A&E Departments in England to explore the effects of austerity policies on the everyday experiences of doctors and nurses working in Emergency Departments. It discusses the operationalisation of efficiency in A&E, in a climate of austerity, and its effects on the experiences and practices of healthcare professionals. It uses the empirical data as a springboard to highlight the role of structures and regulations, in this case targets and protocols, in how core healthcare ethical values, such as empathy, are exercised in practice. It provides an analysis of the normative role structures and regulations can play on the perception and practice of professional duties and obligations in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- ECONOMICS
NATIONAL health services
EMPATHY
HOSPITAL emergency services
INTERVIEWING
LABOR productivity
RESEARCH methodology
MEDICAL quality control
MEDICAL personnel
HEALTH policy
NURSES
PHYSICIANS
PROFESSIONAL ethics
QUALITATIVE research
COMPASSION
OCCUPATIONAL roles
PROFESSIONALISM
PSYCHOSOCIAL factors
THEMATIC analysis
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 10653058
- Volume :
- 27
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Health Care Analysis
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 137793765
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-019-00373-x