Characteristics of Indigenous primary health care service delivery models: a systematic scoping review

Indigenous populations have poorer health outcomes compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. The experience of colonisation, and the long-term effects of being colonised, has caused inequalities in Indigenous health status, including physical, social, emotional, and mental health and wellbeing. This systematic scoping review aims to identify the characteristics of Indigenous primary health care service delivery models. 

Strategy for revitalization of the primary health care in Cuba

Despite the existence of an integrated model of health systems and services, the research conducted in the areas of management, support, health services and finances show some phenomena that weaken the capacity of responding to the population's health requirements, particularly the first care level. The range of possibilities offered by the transforming process in the health sector encourages putting forward a revitalizing strategy centered on the capacity and need of innovating and further developing the Cuban primary health care strategy. The bases supporting the proposal, the objectives and the strategic areas of development were presented, with the focus on ...

Measuring procedure for the resolute capability of basic health care teams

Introduction: the resolute capability is a quality to be taken into account to improve the performance of the integrated service networks.
Objective: to design a methodological procedure to evaluate the resolute capability of the basic health teams at the primary health care.
Methods: developmental research study of health systems and services conducted from December 2012 through February 2013. An expert working group was created in the National School of Public Health. A literature and documentary review using Big 6 model was made. Some scales were set to analyze the results to be achieved in addition to the preparation of a ...

Integrating Community Health Workers Into Medical Homes

Though evidence supports the value of community health workers (CHWs) in chronic disease self-management support, and authorities have called for expanding their roles within patient-centered medical homes (PCMSs), few PCMHs in Minnesota have incorporated these health workers into their care teams. They undertook a qualitative study to (1) identify facilitators and barriers to utilizing a CHW model among PCMHs in Minnesota, and (2) define roles played by this workforce within the PCMH team

Health Services Research Spending and Healthcare System Impact

The challenges associated with translating health services and policy research evidence into practice are many and long-standing. Indeed, those challenges have themselves spawned new areas of research, including knowledge translation and implementation science. These sub-disciplines have increase our understanding of the critical success factors associated with the uptake of research evidence into (system) practice. In that regard, building on Canada´s recent Strategy for Patient Oriented Research would seem to offer consideravle promise. The "modest" proposals offered by Thakkar and Sulivan seem less likely to bear fruit. 

Operationalizing mHealth to improve patient care: a qualitative implementation science evaluation of the WelTel texting intervention in Canada and Kenya

Mobile health (mHealth) applications have proliferated across the  globe with much enthusiasm, although few have reached scale and shown public health impact. In this study, they explored how different contextual factors influenced the implementation, effectiveness and potential for scale-up of welTel, an easy-to-use and evidence-based mHealth intervention. WelTel uses two-way SMS communication to improve patient adherence to medication and engagement in care, and has been developed and tested in Canada and Kenya. 

Towards Patient-Centered Conflicts of Interest Policy

Financial conflicts of interest exist between industry and physicians, and these relationships have the power to incluence physicians´medical practice. Transparency about conflicts matters for ensuring adequate informed consent, controlling healthcare expenditure, and encouraging physicians´reflection on professionalism. The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the Open Payments Program (OPP) to publicly disclose and bring transparency to the relationships between industry and physicians in the United States. These changes considerably improve transparency and the utility of available data, and caan furthermore enhance professionalism and accountability by encouraging physicians to reflect more actively on their own practices. 

Governing Collaborative Healthcare Improvement: Lessons From an Atlantic Canadian Case

The Atlantic Healthcare Collaboration for Innovation and Improvement in Chronic Disease (AHC) Quality Improvement Collaborative (QIC) in Eastern Canada provided an approach to spur system-level reform across multiple health systems for patients and families living with chronic disease. Developed and led by senior executives with a unique governance approach and involving clinical front-line teams, the AHC serves as a practical example of leadership creating and driving momentum for achieving success in collaborative health system improvements 

Derivation and validation of the Personal Support Algorithm: an evidence-based framework to inform allocation of personal support services in home and community care

Personal support services enable many individuals to stay in their homes, but there are no standard ways to classify need for functional support in home and community care settings. The goal of this proyect was to develop and evidence-based clinical tool to inform service planning while allowing for flexibility in care coordinator judgment in response to patient and family circumstances. 

Community Care for People with Complex Care Needs: Bridging the Gap between Health and Social Care

Introduction: A growing number of people are living with complex care needs characterized by multimorbidity, mental health challenges and social deprivation. Required is the integration of health and social care, beyond traditional health care services to address social determinants. This study investigates key care components to support complex patients and their families in the community.

Methods: Expert panel focus groups with 24 care providers, working in health and social care sectors across Toronto, Ontario, Canada were conducted. Patient vignettes illustrating significant health and social care needs were presented to participants. The vignettes prompted discussions on i) how best to meet ...