Nuevas formas de gestión y su impacto en las desigualdades

[Design and validation of the CSR-Hospital-SP scale to measure corporate social responsibility]

OBJECTIVE

To design and validate a scale (CSR-Hospital-SP) to determine health professionals' views on the approach of management to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in their hospital.

METHODS

The literature was reviewed to identify the main CSR scales and select the dimensions to be evaluated. The initial version of the scale consisted of 25 items. A convenience sample of a minimum of 224 health professionals working in five public hospitals in five autonomous regions were invited to respond. Floor and ceiling effects, internal consistency, reliability, and construct validity were analyzed.

RESULTS

A total of 233 health professionals responded. The CSR-Hospital-SP scale had 20 items grouped into four factors. The item-total correlation was higher than 0.30; all factor loadings were greater than 0.50; 59.57% of the variance was explained; Cronbach's alpha was 0.90; Spearman-Brown's coefficient was 0.82.

CONCLUSION

The CSR-Hospital-SP scale is a tool designed for hospitals that implement accountability mechanisms and promote socially responsible management approaches.

[Waiting lists in public systems: from expanding supply to timely access? Reflections on Spain's National Health System]

The paper discusses the issue of waiting times based on a study of Spain's National Health System (Sistema Nacional de Salud, SNS), focusing on the national context, management issues and local practices. Observation visits and interviews with health personnel and managers conducted in the metropolitan areas of the Autonomous Communities of Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia and Basque Country were complemented by secondary data and a review of the literature. There is unanimity as to the positive results of the SNS, but cutting waiting times seems to be one key aspect requiring improvement. Two directions were identified for complementary measures: guaranteed maximum waiting times in the macro-social sphere associated with local measures to increase service integration and primary care resolution rates. The peculiarities of the Spanish decentralisation process and the existence of economic, political and health profession corporate interests were mentioned as factors hampering waiting list regulation, transparency and management. A comprehensive approach to this issue shows the need to shift discussion from waiting list monitoring and/or expanded supply to guaranteed timely access. That is the quality differential that primary care-oriented systems must bring to public health systems.

[The reform of primary care, between the last refuge of adventure and innovation. SESPAS report 2012]

Primary care reforms started thirty years ago, but not fully developed their potential. Improvements should be suggested to be accompanied by adequate funding, operational capacity and organization and clinical skills adapt to upgrading and trivialized demand, bureaucracy and medicalization. Organizational-suggested reforms have not shown conclusive differences yet. On the other hand, neither pro-content nor pro-coordination reforms have shown any impact on the derived demand, the cost of care attention or the health outcomes. Thanks to the support of the information systems, bureaucracy has been reduced and care continuity may be promoted. In the middle management level, some measures have been suggested to promote accessibility, restore capitation by payment systems, perform and resolve capacity, improve integration of social care and health care resources, actively engage professionals with the health system-objectives of quality and efficiency and, finally, add more clinical, preventive and community collaboration-contents.