Total: 916

What are the main risk factors for disability in old age and how can disability be prevented?

In the next twenty years, the European Union will gain 17 million people over age 65 – a 30% increase – and 5.5 million more people over age 80, a 39% increase. Disability in old age is frequent and not only lowers the quality of life of its victims, but strains society’s limited resources for assi...

What are the arguments for community-based mental health care?

Mental disorders are responsible for about 12 - 15 % of the world’s total disability – more than cardiovascular diseases, and twice as much as cancer. Their impact on daily life is even more extensive, accounting for more than 30% of all years lived with disability. Findings: There are no persuasive ...

Funding health care: options for Europe

Health care systems face ever changing and often competing demands for resources. For a health care system to be sustainable it must be able to pay for investment in buildings and equipment, training and remuneration of personnel and for drugs and other consumables. How these financial resources are gene...

Hospitals in a changing Europe

Hospitals are a key component of the health care system and are central to the process of health system reform, but as institutions they have received remarkably little attention from policy-makers and researchers. They have long been regarded as “a black box”’ whose workings are impenetrable. But ...

Regulating entrepreneurial behaviour in Europe

There has been a dramatic upsurge of entrepreneurialism in health care systems in Europe, spurred by interests in better efficiency and quality. The characteristics of entrepreneurial behaviour include seeking opportunity, promoting innovation, and genuine accountability. However, experience so far indic...

Commitment and Care: The benefits of a healthy workplace for nurses, their patients and the system

The Canadian healthcare system is facinga nursing shortage that threatens patientcare. Many nurses, physically and mentallyexhausted, quit; employers can t fill thosevacancies, while paradoxically other nursescan t find secure jobs with hours that suitthem. Meanwhile, nursing schools can't keepup with th...