Is it possible to humanize health organizations?

Jordi Varela
Editor

Today, more than ever, the human part of the contact between patients and clinicians is taking centre stage, from health centres to critical care units and, therefore, the former must strive to be more accessible, while the latter has to demonstrate that the services they go beyond sophisticated clinical practice. Right now, we are at a point where the technical preparation and dedication of clinical professionals cause admiration, but it must be recognized that, with few exceptions, the warmth in human treatment has a lot of room for improvement.

Digital twins in the health sector: objects, people and systems

Tino Martí

A digital twin is the virtual representation of a physical entity that feeds on data captured by sensors. This information offers the status of the equipment in real-time and facilitates the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to identify potential problems, allowing their resolution in advance.

10 proposals to transform our hospitals

Nacho Vallejo
 

The history of the NASA pirate group

In the 1980s, the space agency NASA began work on the development of space shuttles. Responsible for landing man on the Moon, it zealously maintained the use of the Apollo-era operating system. At that time, a group of young engineers who had recently joined the agency questioned whether the system was going to be able to respond to the challenges posed. Calling themselves "the Nasa pirates", they proposed an alternative mission control. The agency's mantra "we've always done it this way, so it must be the best" didn't stop these rebels from writing their own "manifesto" challenging the status quo.

#FAP_ICSCC Primary care pharmacists, support for patient-centred care

Josep Vidal-Alaball

For writing this post, Josep Vidal-Alaball has shared authorship with Anna Maria Bonet Esteve and Aïna Fuster Casanovas.

Health systems have always been more disease-oriented than patient-oriented. In a paternalistic way, the patient's medication has been managed, indicating what he or she has to take and how they have to do it. What consequences has this had? Discomfort in those patients for whom the medication does not suit them, with the consequent interruption of the treatment and the frustration of the professionals for not obtaining results, in addition to the high cost associated with the health system. The social profile of the Catalan population is characterized by progressive ageing and, therefore, by an increase in chronic pathology and associated comorbidities. Fragmented health care among multiple health providers in the system can complicate treatments that are already complex per se. In a context of excessive medicalization of daily life due to the use of medication as one of the main therapeutic resources in the provision of health care, there is an acute need to change the paternalistic management model to promote care that takes into account all stakeholders (1)(2).

Lack of nurses: a serious social problem

Alba Brugués
 

The nursing shortage is a well-known problem throughout the world and has been exacerbated by the effect of the pandemic. According to a WHO report published in 2020, there are 28 million nurses in the world, constituting 59% of health professionals. Currently, the shortage of nurses is estimated at 5.9 million. The report highlights that if action is not taken, by 2030 there will be a shortage of 10.6 million nurses worldwide. In Spain, it is estimated that there are 120,000 missing and in Catalonia 24,000.

Digital transformation as a new determinant of health

Elena Torrente
 

The Spanish Ministry of Health has recently published the Digital Health Strategy of the National Health System. The document, closely aligned with the WHO and European Union strategy on this matter, presents three main lines of action:

1. Development of digital health services aimed at people, organizations and processes that make up the health protection system, with an equity approach.
2. Generalization to the maximum of the interoperability of health information.
3. Promotion of the analysis of data related to health, its determinants and the health system.

Universal health coverage in Spain, myth or reality?

José Cerezo

The WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing has promoted the first exhaustive analysis of financial protection in Spain, led by a team of national experts. The report entitled Can people afford to pay for Health Care? New evidence on financial protection in Spain jointly analyzes microdata from the INE Family Budget Surveys between 2006 and 2019 (the latest data available at the time of publication) and data on unmet needs for health services provided by the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC).