What have we learned in Primary Care during the pandemic?

Salvador Casado

Illustration @72kilos

1. Prioritise. 
2. Team and patient safety. 
3. Self-organisation. 
4. Coordination with the community, society and NHS. 
5. Resilience. Fatigue management.

The Covid19 pandemic has been one of the hardest tests both for the health system as an institution and for its professionals. From a rural health centre, it seemed important to me to open a reflection within the team on what we had learnt in Primary Care over these months. I share the ideas that emerged from this process, which was carried out in a non-systematic way in small group or corridor conversations. The experience of a team is not exclusive to it, nor does it end with it; it is undoubtedly shared with many other professionals and is likely to be enriched by that of other groups with other socio-demographic circumstances, or from other areas of hospital or mental health organisation. The intention of this paper is none other than to extend this reflection and allow the reader to add to it in the form of a commentary on the text or on social networks (twitter: @doctorCasado).

Parallels between pandemics and the bystander effect

Cristina Roure
 

I remember how, just a few weeks before the declaration of the state of alarm, we looked first at China and later at Italy with astonishment and disbelief, as if what was happening there was not with us, as mere spectators. Perhaps we thought that borders could protect us, or at least give us time to anticipate and do better than the Chinese or the Italians. When we took action, our still fresh health contingency plans were pulverized in less than 48 hours by a tsunami that drove us straight to the ground of improvisation.

Do financial incentives work to improve treatment adherence?

Pedro Rey
 

Laura Diego del Río & Pedro Rey

The effectiveness of a treatment depends as much on the prescriber's correct diagnosis and recommendations, as on whether the patient complies with the treatment guidelines that have been indicated. Lack of treatment adherence is one of the major problems related to medications, as it has a direct effect on both the effectiveness of the treatment and the healthcare costs. It’s estimated that in the group of patients with chronic diseases, adherence does not exceed 50%, with non-compliance being even higher in certain diseases, such as psychiatric diseases, in which it’s considered that only 25% of patients follow the treatment prescribed.

Rebellion in companies: it's time for professionals

Jordi Varela

Editor

Joost Minnaar and Pim de Morree, in the book they have just published, Corporate Rebels, make work more fun, explain that, in the summer of 2015, having a beer on a terrace in Barcelona, they decided they were tired of being treated like children in the companies where they worked. They hung up their habits and set out to travel to see how the companies that had opted to rely more on the capabilities of their workers than on process control worked. As a result of the inspiring Barcelona beer, they not only left their jobs but also created a blog, Corporate Rebels, and generated a list of innovative companies, both from an organizational and labour point of view. That said, do not assume that the initiatory journey of the two young Dutchmen is about promoting start-ups, but about how companies can be transformed from below.