“You have to keep fighting”: maintaining healthcare services and professionalism on the frontline of austerity in Greece

International Journal for Equity in Health

Research

Helena Legido-Quigley¹  Angeliki Kerasidou²  Patricia Kingori² 

[1] Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore;London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK;The Ethox Centre, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;

关键词: Austerity;    Greece;    Healthcare;    Professionalism;    Medical professionalism;    Healthcare system reforms;    Qualitative;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12939-016-0407-8

 received in 2016-03-01, accepted in 2016-07-17,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundGreece has been severely affected by the 2008 global economic crisis and its health system was, and still is, among the national institutions most shaped by its effects.MethodsIn 2014, this qualitative study examined these changes through in-depth interviews with 22 frontline healthcare professionals in five different locations in mainland Greece. These interviews with nurses, doctors and pharmacists explored perceptions of austerity and how ideas of professionalism were challenged and revised by these measures.ResultsParticipants reported working conditions characterised by dramatic increases in public hospital admissions alongside decreases in personnel, consumables, materials, and also many hospital closures. Many drew on analogies of war and fighting to describe the effects of healthcare reforms on their working lives and professional conduct. Despite accounts of deteriorating conditions and numerous challenges, healthcare professionals presented themselves as making every effort to meet patients’ needs, while battling to resist guidelines which they perceived diminished their roles to production-line operatives.ConclusionsParticipants considered it their duty to defend their professional ethos and serve patients without compromising standards, even if this meant liberal interpretation and implementation of regulations. These professionals regarded themselves on the frontline of healthcare provision but also the frontline defence in a war on their professional standards from austerity.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016