Commissioned reports in Swedish healthcare governance - descriptive mapping and a content analysis.

BACKGROUND: In order to support decisions regarding governance, organization and control models of the healthcare system, the Swedish government, as well as regional-level agencies, regularly commissions expert reports that are supposed to form the basis for decisions on new steering forms in healthcare. AIM: The aim of this study was a) to perform a descriptive mapping of commissioned reports on Swedish healthcare governance and b) to pursue an in-depth content analysis of a strategic sample of such reports. METHOD: Initially, 106 reports from both national and regional levels were gathered and analysed. A matrix was constructed, consisting of questions on who had commissioned the report, who had produced it, what problems the report set out to solve and what solutions were suggested. Further, questions were posed on whether the report was research-based and whether ethical assumptions and arguments were presented. Thereafter, a strategic sample of 36 reports was selected for an in-depth analysis, using inductive content analysis. RESULTS: The descriptive mapping showed that the aim of the analysed reports differed in form and content, and that they varied from giving an overview and investigating effects and consequences of new control models to more concrete goals, such as suggesting improvement measures. Academic experts involved in creating the reports often represented economics or business studies. The content analysis revealed examples of standardization in care, characterized by requirements to follow national guidelines, but also examples of requests for increased respect for professionals' competence and experience. Further, the analysis showed how the definition of equity in care had changed, from a focus on equity in access to care in the reports produced in the 1990s to an emphasis of arguments for geographical sameness and equity in quality of care in the later reports. DISCUSSION: Two dominant trends were identified in the material, namely increased standardization and arguments for trust in the system. The great number of reports implies that the system risks requesting more information than it can handle and result in documents where the same message is recurrently repeated or create conflicts of interest and value tensions between different suggestions. CONCLUSION: Commissioned reports can have substantial consequences for new reforms of management practices in healthcare. It is therefore important to investigate them critically. The results of our investigation may contribute to a more comprehensive and adequate model for acquiring and using expert reports regarding healthcare governance, both in Sweden and in similar healthcare systems.

A survey of nursing teachers' awareness of discrimination and inequity in telephone nursing care.

BACKGROUND: Nursing care should be respectful of and unrestricted by patients' age, ethnicity, gender, dis/abilities or social status, and such values should be taught to nursing students. Nursing teachers are crucial as role models, and their values are essential. In telephone nursing, only age, sex and ethnicity are known to the registered nurses, which can be challenging. The aim of this study was to explore awareness of discrimination and inequity in telephone nursing among nursing teachers. METHODS: A study specific survey was filled in by 135 nursing teachers from three universities in Sweden. The survey included short descriptions of 12 fictive persons who differed in age, ethnicity and sex and with questions about their estimated life situation. The teachers' estimations of life situation were ranked from lowest probability to highest probability. A 'good life index' was constructed and calculated for each fictive person. It included quality of life, power over one's own life and experience of discrimination. RESULTS: The results indicate that the nursing teachers were aware of how power and age, ethnicity and sex are related; that is, they were aware of discrimination and inequity in healthcare. The persons assessed to be most likely to lead a good life were males of Swedish origin, followed by females of Swedish origin. Persons with non-European origin were estimated to have the highest probability of experiencing discrimination. CONCLUSIONS: The nursing teachers were aware of discrimination and inequity in healthcare. They were able to estimate a fictive person's life situation based on the limited knowledge of age, ethnicity and sex. This is important, as their values are pivotal in theoretical and practical nursing education.

Swedish Healthcare Direct managers' views on gender (in)equity: applying a conceptual model.

BACKGROUND: Although Swedish legislation prescribes equity in healthcare, inequitable healthcare is repeatedly reported in Sweden. Telephone nursing is suggested to promote equitable healthcare, making it just one call away for anyone, at any time, irrespective of distance. However, paediatric health calls reflect that male parents are referred to other health services twice as much as female parents are. Regarding equity in healthcare, telephone nurses have expressed a continuum from Denial and Defence to Openness and Awareness. To make a change, Action is also needed, within organizational frames. The aim here was thus to investigate Swedish Healthcare Direct managers' views on gender (in)equity in healthcare through the application of a conceptual model, developed based on empirical Swedish Healthcare Direct telephone RN data, as a baseline measure at the service's national implementation. METHODS: All Swedish Healthcare Direct managers were interviewed during the period March-May 2012. They were asked how they view equitable healthcare, and how they work to achieve it. A conceptual model for attaining equity in healthcare, including Denial, Defence, Openness, Awareness and Action, was used in a deductive thematic analysis of the interview data. RESULTS: The five model concepts - Denial; Defence; Openness; Awareness and Action - were found in a variety of combinations in the manager interviews. Denial and Defence were mentioned to a higher extent than Openness and Awareness. Several informants denied inequity, arguing that the decision support tool prevented this. However, those who primarily expressed Denial and Defence were also open to learning more on the subject. Action was only mentioned twice in the informants' answers, and then only implicitly. CONCLUSION: Although a majority of the interviewed managers expressed a lack of awareness of (in)equity in healthcare, they also expressed an openness to learning more. While this may reflect a desire to show political correctness, it also points to the need for educational training in order to increase the awareness of (in)equity in healthcare among healthcare managers. Future follow up measurements will reveal if this has happened.

Values and value conflicts in implementation and use of preconception expanded carrier screening - an expert interview study.

BACKGROUND: Endeavors have been made to found and incorporate ethical values in most aspects of healthcare, including health technology assessment. Health technologies and their assessment are value-laden and could trigger problems with dissemination if they contradict societal norms. Per WHO definition, preconception expanded carrier screening is a new health technology that warrants assessment. It is a genetic test offered to couples who have no known risk of recessive genetic diseases and are interested pregnancy. A test may screen for carrier status of several autosomal recessive diseases and X-linked at one go. The technique has been piloted in the Netherlands and is discussed in other countries. The aim of the study was to examine values and value conflicts that healthcare experts recounted in relation to the discussion of implementation and use of preconception ECS in Sweden. METHODS: We interviewed ten experts, who were associated with influencing health policymaking in Sweden. We employed systematizing expert interviews, which endeavor to access experts' specialist knowledge. There were four female and six male informants, of which four were physicians, three bioethicists, one a legal expert, one a theologian and one a political party representative in the parliament. The participants functioned as members of two non-governmental bodies and three governmental organizations. We employed thematic analysis to identify themes, categories and subcategories. RESULTS: Two main themes surfaced: values and value conflicts. The main categories of Respect for persons, Solidarity, Human dignity, Do no harm, Health and Love formed the first theme, while values conflicting with autonomy and integrity respectively, constituted the second theme. Concepts relating to respect for persons were the most commonly mentioned among the participants, followed by notions alluding to solidarity. Furthermore, respondents discussed values conflicting with Swedish healthcare ones such as equality and solidarity. CONCLUSIONS: The experts highlighted values and concepts that are distinctive of welfare states such as Sweden and delineated how preconception ECS could challenge such values. Moreover, the analysis revealed that certain values were deemed more substantive than others, judging by the extent and detail of inference; for example, respect for persons and solidarity were on top of the list.

"A perfect society"- Swedish policymakers' ethical and social views on preconception expanded carrier screening.

To improve healthcare policymaking, commentators have recommended the use of evidence, health technology assessment, priority setting, and public engagement in the process of policymaking. Preconception expanded carrier screening, according to the World Health Organization's definition, is a novel health technology and therefore warrants assessment, part of which involves evaluating ethical and social implications. We examined ten Swedish policymakers' perspectives on ethical and social aspects of preconception expanded screening through in-depth expert interviewing, using a semi-structured questionnaire. Respondents were affiliated to governmental and non-governmental institutions that directly influence healthcare policymaking in Sweden. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed via inductive thematic analysis method, which generated seven themes and several subthemes. Policymakers harbored concerns regarding the economics, Swedish and international political respects, implementation procedures, and societal effects, which included long-term ones. Moreover, participants detailed the role of public engagement, research, and responsibility in regard to preconception expanded carrier screening implementation. Since this is a qualitative study, with a small non-random sample, the results may not be generalizable to all policymakers in Sweden. However, the results give a profound insight into the process and interpretative knowledge of experts, in the Swedish milieu and the extent of readiness of Sweden to implement a preconception expanded carrier screening program.

The status of ethics in Swedish health care management: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: By tradition, the Swedish health care system is based on a representative and parliamentary form of government. Recently, new management forms, inspired by market principles, have developed. The steering system is both national and regional, in that self-governing county councils are responsible for the financing and provision of health care in different regions. National and local documents regulating Swedish health care mention several ethical values, such as equity in health for the whole population and respect for autonomy and human dignity. It is therefore of interest to investigate the status of such ethical statements in Swedish health care management. METHOD: The aim of the present study was to investigate perceptions of the status of ethics in the daily work of politicians, chief civil servants and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) from care-giver organizations in the county council of Stockholm. A qualitative method was used, based on inductive content analysis of individual interviews with 13 health care managers. RESULTS: The content analysis resulted in four categories: Low status of ethics; Cost-effectiveness over ethics; Separation of ethics from management; and Lack of opportunities for ethical competence building. The informants described how they prioritized economic concerns over ethics and separated ethics from their daily work. They also expressed that they experienced that this development had been enforced by the marketization of the health care system. Further, they described how they lacked opportunities for ethical discussions, which could have helped develop their ethical competence. CONCLUSIONS: In order to improve the status of ethics in health care management, ethical considerations and analyses must be integrated in the regular work tasks of politicians, chief civil servants and CEOs; such as decision-making, budgeting and reform work. Further, opportunities for ethical dialogues on a regular basis should be organized, in order to improve ethical competence on the management level. New steering forms, less focused upon market principles, might also be needed, in order to improve the status of ethics in the health care management organization.

From denial to awareness: a conceptual model for obtaining equity in healthcare.

BACKGROUND: Although Swedish legislation prescribes equity in healthcare, studies have reported inequalities, both in face-to-face encounters and in telephone nursing. Research has suggested that telephone nursing has the capability to increase equity in healthcare, as it is open to all and not limited by long distances. However, this requires an increased awareness of equity in healthcare among telephone nurses. The aim of this study was to explore and describe perceptions of equity in healthcare among Swedish telephone nurses who had participated in an educational intervention on equity in health, including which of the power constructs gender, ethnicity and age they commented upon most frequently. Further, the aim was to develop a conceptual model for obtaining equity in healthcare, based on the results of the empirical investigation. METHOD: A qualitative method was used. Free text comments from questionnaires filled out by 133 telephone nurses before and after an educational intervention on equity in health, as well as individual interviews with five participants, were analyzed qualitatively. The number of comments related to inequity based on gender, ethnicity or age in the free text comments was counted descriptively. RESULTS: Gender was the factor commented upon the least and ethnicity the most. Four concepts were found through the qualitative analysis: Denial, Defense, Openness, and Awareness. Some informants denied inequity in healthcare in general, and in telephone nursing in particular. Others acknowledged it, but argued that they had workplace routines that protected against it. There were also examples of an openness to the fact that inequity existed and a willingness to learn and prevent it, as well as an already high awareness of inequity in healthcare. CONCLUSION: A conceptual model was developed in which the four concepts were divided into two qualitatively different blocks, with Denial and Defense on one side of a continuum and Openness and Awareness on the other. In order to reach equity in healthcare, action is also needed, and that concept was therefore added to the model. The result can be used as a starting point when developing educational interventions for healthcare personnel.

Nursing students' awareness of inequity in healthcare - An intersectional perspective.

OBJECTIVE: The overall aim of the present study was to explore awareness of inequity in healthcare and the intersection between different structures of power among nursing students. Another aim was to delineate the knowledge and use of Swedish Healthcare Direct in this group. DESIGN: The study had a descriptive design with a quantitative approach. PARTICIPANTS: The sample consisted of 157 nursing students from three universities in central Sweden. METHODS: The students filled out a study specific questionnaire in class. The questionnaire consisted of short descriptions of twelve fictive persons who differed in gender, age, and ethnicity, with questions about their life situation. The mean was calculated for each assessed fictive person for every item. In the next step, the assessments were ranked from the lowest probability to the highest probability. A 'Good life-index' consisting of quality of life, power over own life, and experience of discrimination, was also calculated. Free text comments were analysed qualitatively. RESULTS: People with Swedish names were assessed to have the highest probability of having a good life. Among those with Swedish names, the oldest woman was assessed as having the lowest probability of a good life. All students had knowledge about Swedish Healthcare Direct, but more female students had used the service compared to male students. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the nursing students had awareness of how power and gender, ethnicity and age, are related. Based on the free text comments, the questions and the intersectional perspective seemed to evoke some irritation which points to their sensitive nature. Therefore, the questionnaire could be used as a tool to start a discussion of equity in healthcare and in interventions where the aim is to raise awareness of inequality and intersectionality.

Impact of telephone nursing education program for equity in healthcare.

BACKGROUND: The Swedish Healthcare Act prescribes that healthcare should be provided according to needs and with respect for each person's human dignity. The goal is equity in health for the whole population. In spite of this, studies have revealed that Swedish healthcare is not always provided equally. This has also been observed in telephone nursing. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate if and how an educational intervention can improve awareness of equity in healthcare among telephone nurses. METHODS: The study had a quasi-experimental design, with one intervention group and one control group. A base-line measurement was performed before an educational intervention and a follow-up measurement was made afterwards in both groups, using a study specific questionnaire in which fictive persons of different age, gender and ethnicity were assessed concerning, e.g., power over one's own life, quality of life and experience of discrimination. The educational intervention consisted of a web-based lecture, literature and a seminar, covering aspects of inequality in healthcare related to gender, age and ethnicity, and gender and intersectionality theories as explaining models for these conditions. RESULTS: The results showed few significant differences before and after the intervention in the intervention group. Also in the control group few significant differences were found in the second measurement, although no intervention was performed in that group. The reason might be that the instrument used was not sensitive enough to pick up an expected raised awareness of equity in healthcare, or that solely the act of filling out the questionnaire can create a sort of intervention effect. Fictive persons born in Sweden and of young age were assessed to have a higher Good life-index than the fictive persons born outside Europe and of higher age in all assessments. CONCLUSION: The results are an imperative that equity in healthcare still needs to be educated and discussed in different healthcare settings. The intervention and questionnaire were designed to fit telephone nurses, but could easily be adjusted to suit other professional groups, who need to increase their awareness of equity in healthcare.

Exploring the communication between telenurse and caller-a critical discourse analysis.

BACKGROUND: Telenursing is an expanding service in most Western societies. Sweden is a front-line country, with all of its 21 counties connected to Swedish Healthcare Direct (SHD) 1177. The intention of the service is twofold: to make health care more efficient, while also making it more accessible and safe for patients. Previous research has shown, however, that the service is not used equitably. Gender, age, socio-economic, and ethnicity differences have been reported as determining factors for the use of the service and the advice given. AIM: The aim of the study was to explore the communication between telenurses and callers in authentic calls to SHD 1177. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative method, using critical discourse analysis (CDA), was chosen. The approach was deductive, that is, the analysis was made in view of a predetermined framework of theory. Twenty calls were strategically chosen and included in the study. RESULTS: The CDA resulted in five types of calls, namely a gatekeeping call, a gendered call, a call marked by impersonal traits, a call with voices of the life world, and finally a counter discourse call. The dominating patterns in the calls were of gatekeeping and biomedical character. Patterns of the societal gender order were found, in that representations of the reluctant male caller and the ideal female caller were identified, but also a call representing a counter discourse. The service seemed difficult to use for patients with low language proficiency. CONCLUSION: Telenursing could potentially challenge inequalities in health care. However, the discourse of telenursing is dialectically related to neoliberal ideology and the ideology of medicine. It is also situated in a gendered context of ideal femininity and hegemonic masculinity. Through better awareness of gender biases and the callers' different resources for making themselves heard, the communication between telenurse and caller might become more equal and thereby better suitable for all callers.

A precautionary principle for dual use research in the life sciences.

Most life science research entails dual-use complexity and may be misused for harmful purposes, e.g. biological weapons. The Precautionary Principle applies to special problems characterized by complexity in the relationship between human activities and their consequences. This article examines whether the principle, so far mainly used in environmental and public health issues, is applicable and suitable to the field of dual-use life science research. Four central elements of the principle are examined: threat, uncertainty, prescription and action. Although charges against the principle exist - for example that it stifles scientific development, lacks practical applicability and is poorly defined and vague - the analysis concludes that a Precautionary Principle is applicable to the field. Certain factors such as credibility of the threat, availability of information, clear prescriptive demands on responsibility and directives on how to act, determine the suitability and success of a Precautionary Principle. Moreover, policy-makers and researchers share a responsibility for providing and seeking information about potential sources of harm. A central conclusion is that the principle is meaningful and useful if applied as a context-dependent moral principle and allowed flexibility in its practical use. The principle may then inspire awareness-raising and the establishment of practical routines which appropriately reflect the fact that life science research may be misused for harmful purposes.