Purpose: The purpose was to develop a questionnaire, gathering the professionals’ opinion, to measure the degree of collaboration between clinicians from different levels of care (primary care and specialised care) in a given healthcare organisation. This questionnaire was originally developed to assess processes of care integration in the Basque Health System (Spain), but can also be used in o...

South Africa is an upper-middle-income country with widespread social and geographical inequality of surgical provision. The National Forum on Surgery and Anaesthesia in South Africa brought together various stakeholders, including government, societies, academic clinicians and the biomedical industry, to define the core strategy for a national surgical plan. During the forum, presentations and...

Fledgling steps in the form of policy measures, surveillance mechanisms and safety initiatives have been taken in the Indian healthcare context to address the increasing evidence base of patient safety events. The paper examines whether structural and processual measures alone would contribute to safer care. The article posits that healthcare organisations in India need to look beyond the struc...

A rare disease usually concerns only a handful of patients, but all patients with a rare disease combined represent a significant health burden. Due to limited knowledge and the absence of treatment guidelines, patients with rare diseases usually experience delayed diagnosis and suboptimal treatment. Historically, rare diseases have never been considered a major health problem. However, rare di...

OBJECTIVES To investigate patients' and family members' perceptions and experiences of disclosure of healthcare incidents and to derive principles of effective disclosure. DESIGN Retrospective qualitative study based on 100 semi-structured, in depth interviews with patients and family members. SETTING Nationwide multisite survey across Australia. PARTICIPANTS 39 patients and 80 family mem...

Refugees have high rates of mental health morbidity as a result of conflict. However, their needs for mental healthcare and psychosocial support are often unmet, despite the efforts of professional and humanitarian organisations. The war refugee crisis is a global challenge that needs a global solution. We call on all governments, regional and international organisations to take responsible hum...

Professionals in healthcare organisations who seek to enhance safety and quality in an increasingly demanding industry environment often identify culture as a barrier to change. The cultural focus on individual autonomy, for example, seems to conflict with desired norms of teamwork, problem reporting, and learning. We offer a definition and explication of why culture is important to change effo...

Previous research has evaluated technology-based service encounters (TBSEs) in the delivery of health care by assessing patient satisfaction. This study examined service quality and perceived value of TBSEs used in health organisations from the perspective of clinical staff, with staff technology readiness as a moderator. A quantitative survey was conducted in Taiwan, across private and public ...

Recent disclosures of failures of care in the National Health Service (NHS) in England have led to debates about compassion deficits disallowing health professionals to provide high quality responsive care. While the link between high quality care and compassion is often taken for granted, it is less obvious how compassion – often originating in the individual’s emotional response – can become ...