Bmc Health Serv Res
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jan 2009
Comparative StudyIdentifying important motivational factors for professionals in Greek hospitals.
The purpose of this study was to identify important motivational factors according to the views of health-care professionals in Greek hospitals and particularly to determine if these might differ in the public and private sectors. ⋯ The results are in agreement with the literature which focuses attention to management approaches employing both monetary and non-monetary incentives to motivate health care workers. This study showed that intrinsic factors are particularly important and should become a target for effective employee motivation.
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Emergency departments (EDs) are high pressure health care settings involving complex interactions between staff members in providing and organising patient care. Without good communication and cooperation amongst members of the ED team, quality of care is at risk. This study examined the problem-solving, medication advice-seeking and socialising networks of staff working in an Australian hospital ED. ⋯ Network analyses provide useful ways to assess social structures in clinical settings by allowing us to understand how ED staff relate within their social and professional structures. This can provide insights of potential benefit to ED staff, their leaders, policymakers and researchers.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jan 2009
Economic hardship associated with managing chronic illness: a qualitative inquiry.
Chronic illness and disability can have damaging, even catastrophic, socioeconomic effects on individuals and their households. We examined the experiences of people affected by chronic heart failure, complicated diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to inform patient centred policy development. This paper provides a first level, qualitative understanding of the economic impact of chronic illness. ⋯ This research provides insights into the economic stressors associated with managing chronic illness, demonstrating that economic hardship requires households to make difficult decisions between care and basic living expenses. These decisions may cause less than optimal health outcomes and increased costs to the health system. The findings support the necessity of a critical analysis of health, social and welfare policies to identify cross-sectoral strategies to alleviate such hardship and improve the affordability of managing chronic conditions. In a climate of global economic instability, research into the economic impact of chronic illness on individuals' health and well-being and their disease management capacity, such as this study, provides timely evidence to inform policy development.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jan 2009
Development and validation of the accommodation and enabling scale for eating disorders (AESED) for caregivers in eating disorders.
Families of people with eating disorders are often caught up in rule bound eating and safety behaviours that characterise the illness. The main aim of this study was to develop a valid and specific scale to measure family accommodation in the context of having a relative with an eating disorder. ⋯ Internal consistency was good and initial validity of the scale was adequate, it was able to discriminate differences between clinical variables, however, further work is needed to confirm the factor structure and validity of the AESED. Nevertheless, this scale may be of value in exploring and helping to improve carers' coping strategies and in examining the effectiveness of family based interventions.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jan 2009
Study protocol of psychometric properties of the Spanish translation of a competence test in evidence based practice: the Fresno test.
There are few high-quality instruments for evaluating the effectiveness of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) curricula with objective outcomes measures. The Fresno test is an instrument that evaluates most of EBP steps with a high reliability and validity in the English original version. The present study has the aims to translate the Fresno questionnaire into Spanish and its subsequent validation to ensure the equivalence of the Spanish version against the English original. ⋯ The validation of the Fresno questionnaire into different languages will enable the expansion of the questionnaire, as well as allowing comparison between countries and the evaluation of different teaching models.