October 2015 – AQuAS Blog

21 experiences receive the certificate at the Third Edition of Centre for Innovation in Health Management in Catalonia (OIGS)

29 Oct

Montse Moharra (@mmoharra), Dolors Benítez and Anna García-Altés (@annagaal)

Students at the Pompeu Fabra University can respond to the challenges arising from the OIGS (Centre for Innovation in Health Management in Catalonia) innovation community

Over 600 health professionals met in Barcelona on Monday September 21^st during the Third Edition of the Centre for Innovation in Health Management in Catalonia (OIGS), which was attended by the Minister of Health, Boi Ruiz. During the ceremony, 21 innovative experiences received the quality certificate.

The Minister welcomed the involvement of health professionals in “responding to our major concern, which is to improve healthcare” and gave “thanks to the people who believed that the best way to change things is do it from within.” It also found that OIGS is a project of “an extraordinary dimension” and that its current numbers (189 experiences and more than 500 users) denote its consolidation. He also stressed that in times of budgetary constraints, they are undertaking pioneering improvements in the health system to help improve the health care for citizens. Continue reading →

Angus Deaton: the Nobel laureate concerned about health inequalities

22 Oct

Sense títol Anna García-Altés, @annagaal, Head of the Catalan Health System Observatory

Last week, on Monday, we found out that the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics to Angus Deaton a 69 years old Scottish laureate.

Dr. Deaton, qualified in mathematics, did his PhD at Cambridge University, but has developed his academic career at Princeton University. The committee granted him the award for his work in consumption analysis, poverty and welfare and their applications in microeconomics, macroeconomics and development economics, which has influenced both the politics (and policy-makers) and the scientific community.

deaton A

One of his main achievements has been the development of a system used to estimate the demand for various goods, which is currently the standard tool for measuring the effects of the economic policy, in order to build price indices and to compare the welfare levels of different countries and different timeframes. He also undertook various studies linking consumption and income whilst his most recent work is assessing welfare and poverty mainly -but not exclusively- in the developing countries. In addition to his research subjects, Dr. Deaton’s work is also remarkable for the breadth of methodological approaches used, from theoretical models to the use of econometric methods, mainly household surveys (which is one of his areas of expertise); his knowledge of the data quality commonly available and his careful construction of accurate measurement results. Continue reading →

Ideally, professionals could prescribe app’s and websites with trustworthy and quality content

15 Oct

Mireia Sans (MS in the text), family physician and director of the Unitat de Gestió Hospitalet Nord of Institut Català de la Salut, in an interview made by Anna García-Altés (AGA in the text), discusses the advantages of the new technologies for the health care world and advocates the importance of digital identity.

AGA: What it is meant by digital identity?

MS: It is the set of information that exposes us on the Internet, whether we’re talking about personal data, images, records, news, reviews… All this provides our description to digital level. It’s important to not try to invent a false identity but rather to emphasize the virtues-values-knowledge-skills you have and wish to publicize.

AGA: Is it necessary for health professionals to have a well presented digital identity? What are the benefits?

MS: Yes, it’s fundamental. Working on this identity is the first step towards a successful and proactive management of our digital reputation, which reflects what we do, what we teach and say about ourselves and also what others say about us. Continue reading →

Social networks and health, an opportunity that still has far to go

8 Oct

Josep Vidal Alaball, Family Doctor. EAP Artés (ICS)

Whatever the field, social networks open a range of opportunities. Their features has been changing many people’s lives for many years, starting with the closest relationships to organizations, companies and brands around us and yes, even the medical staff.

In the health field, I’m not quite sure whether the social networks should be used to improve the relationship and interaction with patients, as this aspect should be dealt with in everyday consultations. What is certain is that social networks can be used to enable patients to consult doctors or reinforce aspects that sometimes can not be completely covered during a medical consultation. A good example is the use of inhalers. Sometimes, it can be easier for a professional to recommend patients a video showing how people with respiratory diseases use it, instead of briefly and superficially teaching the correct technique during the consultation. Continue reading →

Public health care budget. A ten-year overview (part 2)

1 Oct

Joan MV Pons, Head of Evaluation AQuAS

If in the previous post we examined the public health care budget evolution in the last decade (2005-2015) and we compared its distribution by major service lines, in this second part we will look at diseases (health problems) as described by the WHO International Classification of Diaseases (ICD) where they categorize conditions by the affected organs (apparatus or systems) or by origin (in the graphic: pressupost = budget)

Sense títol Continue reading →