Importance of work engagement in primary healthcare

Work engagement is crucial for quality care at the primary healthcare level. This is especially true during the Covid-19 pandemic, as it has effects on the community from both a health and economic point of view. For example, inadequate work engagement can lead to fewer referrals to the secondary healthcare level. This study aims to examine the work engagement level in a public healthcare organisation at the primary healthcare level to further explore the role of work environment characteristics. The study addresses a research gap in the field of primary healthcare and emphasises the importance of managing the factors promoting ...

Ending tuberculosis in a post-COVID-19 world: a person-centred, equity-oriented approach

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted systems of care for infectious diseases—including tuberculosis—and has exposed pervasive inequities that have long marred efforts to combat these diseases. The resulting health disparities often intersect at the individual and community levels in ways that heighten vulnerability to tuberculosis. Effective responses to tuberculosis (and other infectious diseases) must respond to these realities. Unfortunately, current tuberculosis programmes are generally not designed from the perspectives of affected individuals and fail to address structural determinants of health disparities. We describe a person-centred, equity-oriented response that would identify and focus on communities affected by disparities, tailor interventions ...

Dimensions of Proximity: An Actionable Framework to Better Understand Integrated Practices in Cancer Networks

This study empirically explores how dimensions of proximity that support integrated care emerge from deliberate actions within a cancer network in Quebec (Canada).

Resilience of the primary health care system – German primary care practitioners’ perspectives during the early COVID-19 pandemic

Primary care is a relevant pillar in managing not only individual, but also societal medical crises. The COVID-19 pandemic has demanded a rapid response from primary care with interventions in the health care system. The aim of this paper was to explore the responses of primary care practitioners (PCP) during the early COVID-19 pandemic and to analyze these with a view on the resilience of the primary health care system from the PCPs perspective.

Asynchronous Remote Communication as a Tool for Care Management in Primary Care: A Rapid Review of the Literature

To review the available evidence on asynchronous communication models between primary care professionals and patients in different countries around the world in order to analyse the added value that this model brings to patients and professionals.

Values Underpinning Integrated, People-Centred Health Services: Similarities and Differences among Actor Groups Across Europe

In addition to the functional aspects of healthcare integration, an understanding of its normative aspects is needed. This study explores the importance of values underpinning integrated, people-centred health services, and examines similarities and differences among the values prioritised by actors across Europe.

Priority setting and cross-country learning: the relevance of TO-REACH for primary care

To inform the primary care community about priorities for research in primary care as came up from the European project TO-REACH and to discuss transferability of service and policy innovations between countries. The large variation in service organisation and policy around primary care in Europe is a huge potential for cross-country learning. 

TO-REACH stands for Transfer of Organizational innovations for Resilient, Effective, equitable, Accessible, sustainable and Comprehensive Health services and systems.

In safe hands: a qualitative study on older adults’ experiences of a tailored primary health care unit

Today’s health care system faces challenges in meeting the needs of older people with multimorbidity. To better cope with these needs, tailored primary health care with geriatric competence and person-centred care has been suggested. The aim of this study was to explore older patients’ experiences of a tailored primary health care unit.

Person-centred care in primary care: What works for whom, how and in what circumstances?

This rapid realist review aims to explain how and why person-centred care (PCC) in primary care works (or not) among others for people with low health literacy skills and for people with a diverse ethnic and socioeconomic background, and to construct a middle-range programme theory (PT). The middle-range PT demonstrates that healthcare professionals (HCPs) should be trained and equipped with the knowledge and skills to communicate effectively (i.e. in easy-to-understand words, emphatically, checking whether the patient understands everything, listening attentively) tailored to the wishes, needs and possibilities of the patient, which may lead to higher satisfaction.

Emergency Room Nurses’ Experiences in Person-Centred Care

Implementing person-centred care is often considered difficult in congested emergency rooms. The purpose of this study was to understand person-centred care experienced by emergency room nurses in depth and examine the essence of emergency room nurses’ lived experience of the person- centred care.