Abstract
Introduction: The size and composition of the European Union healthcare workforce are key drivers of expenditure and performance; it now includes new health professions and enhanced roles for established professions. This project will systematically analyse how this has contributed to health service redesign, integration and performance in 9 European countries (Scotland, England, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Norway, and Turkeyi). This paper describes the protocol for collection of survey data in 3 distinct care pathways, and sets it in the context of the wider programme.
Methods: Questionnaires will be distributed to healthcare professionals (n=14 580), managers (n=3564) and patients (n=19 440) in 3 care pathways (breast cancer; type 2 diabetes; and coronary heart disease) within 12 hospitals and associated primary care settings in each country. Questionnaire topics will include demography, the different professionals working on the care pathway, the tasks they do and the time taken, their decision-making abilities when considering skill mix, specialisation and integration of care. Patient satisfaction, healthcare utilisation and preferences will be explored. In later work, register data and data from patient records will be used to record clinical outcomes. Data will also be collected on workforce and procedure costs. Descriptive analysis will identify the different models of care and multivariate analysis will establish the most clinically and cost-effective models.
Ethics and dissemination: This protocol was approved by ethical committees in each country. Findings will be disseminated through national/international clinical, health services research and health workforce conferences, and publications in national/international peer-reviewed journals.
Methods: Questionnaires will be distributed to healthcare professionals (n=14 580), managers (n=3564) and patients (n=19 440) in 3 care pathways (breast cancer; type 2 diabetes; and coronary heart disease) within 12 hospitals and associated primary care settings in each country. Questionnaire topics will include demography, the different professionals working on the care pathway, the tasks they do and the time taken, their decision-making abilities when considering skill mix, specialisation and integration of care. Patient satisfaction, healthcare utilisation and preferences will be explored. In later work, register data and data from patient records will be used to record clinical outcomes. Data will also be collected on workforce and procedure costs. Descriptive analysis will identify the different models of care and multivariate analysis will establish the most clinically and cost-effective models.
Ethics and dissemination: This protocol was approved by ethical committees in each country. Findings will be disseminated through national/international clinical, health services research and health workforce conferences, and publications in national/international peer-reviewed journals.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e010511 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-9 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | BMJ Open |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Apr 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Acknowledgements:The authors wish to thank the European Commission for funding this research programme Health Care Reform: The iMpact on practice, oUtcomes and cost of New ROles for health profeSsionals (MUNROS), under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 HEALTH-2012- INNOVATION-1) grant agreement number HEALTH-F3-2012-305467EC. The authors also wish to thank all those who supported and guided this work, both within the MUNROS research project team and as external associates. The authors also wish to thank all the MUNROS research and project partners for their continuing collaboration in this research.
Access to Document
- The iMpact on practice, oUtcomes and costs of New roles for health pROfeSsionals: a study protocol for MUNROS
This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work noncommercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/