Articles

Participation of National Medical Associations in quality improvement activities - International comparison and the Israeli case

Many countries have devoted considerable efforts in an attempt to improve the performance of their health care systems. National Medical Associations (NMAs), along with other stakeholders, play a part in the p...

Authors: Baruch Levi, Malke Borow and Michelle Glekin

Minor surgical procedures and musculoskeletal injections by primary care physicians - an Israeli experience

Since minor surgical and musculoskeletal problems are commonly seen in primary care, primary care physicians are expected to possess the skills required to perform minor surgical procedures (MSP) and musculosk...

Authors: Sasson Menahem, Andrey Nazarenko and Pesach Shvartzman

“The mothers have eaten unripe grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge”: the potential inter-generational effects of the Holocaust on chronic morbidity in Holocaust survivors’ offspring

Modern epidemiology has evolved in the last decades from the simplified “cause-effect” paradigm to a multi-factorial framework of causality. The concept of “Fetal Origin of Adult Diseases” (FOAD) is a good exa...

Authors: Lital Keinan-Boker

Is nursing shortage in Israel inevitable?

Israel has a low density of professional nurses. New evidence suggests less than optimal hospital work environments may undermine efficient and effective delivery of nursing care and contribute to job dissatis...

Authors: Linda H Aiken and Matthew D McHugh

Performance of aseptic technique during neuraxial analgesia for labor before and after the publication of international guidelines on aseptic technique

Aseptic technique and handwashing have been shown to be important factors in perioperative bacterial transmission, however compliance often remains low despite guidelines and educational programs. Infectious c...

Authors: Alex Ioscovich, Elyad M Davidson, Sharon Orbach-Zinger, Zvia Rudich, Simon Ivry, Laura J Rosen, Alexander Avidan and Yehuda Ginosar

Points mean prizes: priority points, preferential status and directed organ donation in Israel

The introduction of Israel’s new Organ Transplantation Act in 2010 has enabled the development of a unique priority point system aimed at motivating individual’s to donate their organ. The priority point syste...

Authors: Antonia J Cronin

Israeli nurse practice environment characteristics, retention, and job satisfaction

There is an international nursing shortage. Improving the practice environment has been shown to be a successful strategy against this phenomenon, as the practice environment is associated with retention and j...

Authors: Freda DeKeyser Ganz and Orly Toren

Coming out ahead: the cost effectiveness of external cephalic version using spinal anesthesia

Breech presentation is encountered in 3 to 4% of term pregnancies and has been a significant driver of the increased rate of cesarean deliveries over the last 4 decades. External cephalic version (ECV) is reco...

Authors: James A O’Brien and Eli Y Adashi

Reducing the cesarean delivery rates for breech presentations: administration of spinal anesthesia facilitates manipulation to cephalic presentation, but is it cost saving?

External cephalic version (ECV) is infrequently performed and 98% of breech presenting fetuses are delivered surgically. Neuraxial analgesia can increase the success rate of ECV significantly, potentially redu...

Authors: Carolyn F Weiniger, Paul S Spencer, Yuval Weiss, Gary Ginsberg and Yossef Ezra

Annual acknowledgement of manuscript reviewers

The Editors of Israel Journal of Health Policy Research would like to thank all reviewers, both external and Editorial Board Members, who have contributed to the journal in 2013, and whose valuable support contin...

Authors: Bruce Rosen and Avi Israeli

Hospitalizations of nursing homes residents: the role of reimbursement policies

Factors which contribute to hospitalization of nursing home residents are multiple and complex. They include dimensions of the policy setting as well as patient management practices. In seeking interventions t...

Authors: Toni Ashton

Variables correlated with elderly referral from nursing homes to general hospitals

Referring patients from nursing homes to general hospitals exposes them to nosocomial diseases, and may result in the development of a broad spectrum of physical, mental and social damages. Therefore, minimizi...

Authors: Shir Wagman, Shmuel Rishpon, Genady Kagan, Jonathan Dubnov and Sonia Habib

Making the case for directed organ donation to registered donors in Israel

The number of deceased donor organ donations in Israel is lower than average when compared to other Western World countries. To address the organ gap, the 2008 Organ Transplantation Law provides new interventi...

Authors: Gil Siegal

Health policies and the relationships between socioeconomic status, access to health care, and health

Health policies tend to focus on improving the access to health care of persons of low-socioeconomic status to improve their health. This commentary argues that health policies directly directed at health and ...

Authors: Bénédicte H Apouey

Becoming poor and the cutback in the demand for health services in Israel

This paper examines whether individuals facing the threat of poverty are curtailing their consumption of various goods and services in a given order and, if among the expenditures that are cut back, there are ...

Authors: Joseph Deutsch, Adi Lazar and Jacques Silber

The IJHPR publishes its 100^th article, and other momentous milestones

The Israel Journal of Health Policy Research (IJHPR) was launched in January 2012 and it is now publishing its 100^th article. It was accepted into PubMed after only six months of publication and it has now also b...

Authors: Bruce Rosen and Avi Israeli

The growing number of female physicians: meanings, values, and outcomes

Throughout the developed world the proportion of women in professions such as medicine is increasing. This commentary uses Haklai et al’s nuanced report on the feminization of medicine in Israel as a starting ...

Authors: Susan P Phillips

Erratum to: Characteristics of the elderly who do not visit primary care physicians

Authors: Nira Eshel, Raanan Raz, Gabriel Chodick, Varda Shalev and Michal Guindy

Does cancer deserve special treatment when health technologies are prioritized?

Despite most new cancer treatments having relatively high costs and low health benefits, they are often funded ahead of treatments for other illnesses. And yet, according to the article by Dan Greenberg and co...

Authors: Paul Hansen

Oncologists’ and family physicians’ views on value for money of cancer and congestive heart failure care

Previous studies suggest that cancer-related interventions are valued by policy makers more favorably than interventions for other medical conditions, but the views of practicing physicians have not yet been a...

Authors: Dan Greenberg, Ariel Hammerman, Shlomo Vinker, Adi Shani, Yuval Yermiahu and Peter J Neumann

It’s a pain in the neck! Who can help me?

Orthopaedic surgery is a long established surgical specialty. Practitioners complete training which focuses on those musculo-skeletal conditions for which surgery is the preferred treatment option. Diagnosis a...

Authors: Gillian Schiller

The case for orthopaedic medicine in Israel

Musculoskeletal complaints are probably the most frequent reasons for visiting a doctor. They comprise more than a quarter of the complaints to primary practitioners and are also the most common reason for ref...

Authors: Aharon S Finestone, Simon Vulfsons, Charles Milgrom, Amnon Lahad, Shlomo Moshe, Gabriel Agar and Dan Greenberg

The time is now for action research

Despite highly systematic methods for identifying priority problems and assessing intervention effects, the recent study by Tourgeman-Bashkin and colleagues would not be considered rigorous by conventional sta...

Authors: Sara J Singer

Radiology department, human factors and organizational perspectives: using action research to improve patient safety

Action research is a participatory research method based on active cooperation between researchers and subjects. In clinical practice, action research enables active involvement of workers in developing and im...

Authors: Osnat Tourgeman-Bashkin, David Shinar, Yoel Donchin, Ehud Zmora, Nitsa Velleman and Eugeine Libson

Urgent Care: the evolution of a revolution

The rapid and global growth of urgent care centers has had a revolutionary, though poorly understood, impact on the health care delivery system. The consumer-driven care model inherent in urgent care and other...

Authors: Lee A Resnick

Community-based urgent care in Israel and worldwide

Intermittent treatment of acute lower acuity situations has come to be defined as urgent rather than emergent care. The location of urgent care delivery has been shifting from exclusively hospital or office se...

Authors: Deena R Zimmerman

Female physicians: trends and likely impacts on healthcare in Israel

Female physicians have become an increasing proportion of the medical workforce in Israel. This study investigates this trend and discusses its likely impact on the quantity and quality of medical care available.

Authors: Ziona Haklai, Yael Applbaum, Orna Tal, Myriam Aburbeh and Nehama F Goldberger

Expanding the use of patient reports about patient-centered care

In an informative article on the assessment of patient care experiences, Zimlichman, Rozenblum, and Millenson describe the evolving use of surveys that elicit patient reports about medical care experiences in ...

Authors: Paul D Cleary

The road to patient experience of care measurement: lessons from the United States

Patient-centered care has become an increasing priority in the United States and plays a prominent role in recent healthcare reforms. One way the country has managed to advance patient-centered care is through...

Authors: Eyal Zimlichman, Ronen Rozenblum and Michael L Millenson

Policy lessons from physicians’ strikes

Drawing upon the literature on physicians’ strikes from other OECD countries, the experience with physician strikes in Israel is put into comparative perspective. There are both structural and ideological fact...

Authors: Gregory P Marchildon

Recent physician strike in Israel: a health system under stress?

In 2011, a series of physician strikes in Israel followed eight months of unsuccessful negotiations with the government (Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance). Strikes by physicians may be a warning ...

Authors: Leonora G Weil, Gabi Bin Nun and Martin McKee

Addressing physician stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue: the time has come

Stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue can have a significant adverse effect of physician well being and patient care. While the frequency and intensity of these negative influences appear to be increasing, t...

Authors: Alan H Rosenstein

Compassion fatigue, burnout and compassion satisfaction among family physicians in the Negev area - a cross-sectional study

Compassion fatigue among health care professionals has gained interest over the past decade. Compassion fatigue, as well as burnout, has been associated with depersonalization and suboptimal patient care. Prof...

Authors: Nurit El-bar, Amalia Levy, Hedy S Wald and Aya Biderman

Declines in psychiatric care in inpatient settings in Israel mirror global trend

Levinson and Lerner provide compelling evidence that reforms to the mental health system in Israel led to significant declines in institutional-based care. These declines are similar to those found in other hi...

Authors: Susan H Busch and Dominic Hodgkin

Hospitalization of patients with schizophrenic and affective disorders in Israel in the aftermath of the structural and rehabilitation reforms

In the last decade (2001–2010) the Ministry of Health implemented two major inter-related reforms: a ’structural reform’ to reduce the number of psychiatric beds and the ’Rehabilitation of the Mentally Disable...

Authors: Daphna Levinson and Yaacov Lerner

Research and data systems to promote equal access to postacute rehabilitation

The first national study in Israel of post-acute rehabilitation service use for elderly patients with stroke and hip fracture reported regional variation in care receipt. Although lower likelihood of admission...

Authors: Linda Resnik

Regional gaps in the provision of inpatient rehabilitation services for the elderly in Israel: Results of a national survey

Medical events, such as stroke, limb fractures, joint replacements and spinal injuries, can lead to acute functional disability at all ages and to chronic disability, especially among the elderly. Rehabilitati...

Authors: Inbar Zucker, Irit Laxer, Iris Rasooli, Shulamit Han, Aaron Cohen and Tamar Shohat

Meaningful use: a roadmap for the advancement of health information exchange

Frankel and colleagues have compared Israel and the U.S.’s experiences with health information exchange (HIE). They highlight the importance of institutional factors in fostering HIE development, notably the i...

Authors: Michael F Furukawa

Private health insurance policies in Israel: a report on the 2012 Dead Sea Conference

The private health insurance (commercial and supplementary health insurance) sector has undergone a revolutionary transformation in recent years, both in the number of individuals who own private plans, and in...

Authors: Gabi Bin Nun

Israel is failing to protect its citizens from secondhand smoke: underestimating public support

Rather than clearly and unequivocally requiring 100% smokefree workplaces and public places (including restaurants, bars and other entertainment venues), Israeli law contains several elements that parallel the...

Authors: Stanton A Glantz

Climate change and health in Israel: adaptation policies for extreme weather events

Climatic changes have increased the world-wide frequency of extreme weather events such as heat waves, cold spells, floods, storms and droughts. These extreme events potentially affect the health status of mil...

Authors: Manfred S Green, Noemie Groag Pri-or, Guedi Capeluto, Yoram Epstein and Shlomit Paz

Improving public health by tackling climate change

Across the world, climate change is now responsible for substantial mortality and morbidity, through direct effects on health and also by threatening the determinants of health. This commentary argues that ada...

Authors: Jenny Griffiths

Sustainable health information exchanges: the role of institutional factors

The transfer of patient information between the domains of community and hospital influences the quality, continuity and cost of health care. To supply the need for information flow between community and hospi...

Authors: Meir Frankel, David Chinitz, Claudia A Salzberg and Katriel Reichman

Do health policy advisors know what the public wants? An empirical comparison of how health policy advisors assess public preferences regarding smoke-free air, and what the public actually prefers

Health policy-making, a complex, multi-factorial process, requires balancing conflicting values. A salient issue is public support for policies; however, one reason for limited impact of public opinion may be ...

Authors: Laura J Rosen, David A Rier, Greg Connolly, Anat Oren, Carla Landau and Robert Schwartz

Israeli medical students’ perceptions of six key medical specialties

Choosing a medical specialty requires medical students to match their interests and social-cultural situations with their perceptions of the various specialties.

Authors: Charles Weissman, Howard Tandeter, Rachel Yaffa Zisk-Rony, Yoram G Weiss, Uriel Elchalal, Alex Avidan and Josh E Schroeder

Choosing a medical specialty: the difference between what students want and what society needs

The choice of a specialty by medical students is a complex one that has significant implications for the future supply of physician manpower. The study by Weissman et al. portrays this choice as reflecting the...

Authors: David M Mirvis

Rethinking the politics and implementation of health in all policies

In Europe, successful health policies have contributed to a continued decline in mortality. However, not all parts of Europe have benefited equally and the sustainability of achievements cannot be taken for gr...

Authors: Matthias Wismar, David McQueen, Vivian Lin, Catherine M Jones and Maggie Davies

A health in all policies approach to promote active, healthy lifestyle in Israel

In December 2011, Israel launched the National Program to Promote Active, Healthy Lifestyle, an inter-ministerial, intersectoral effort to address obesity and its contribution to the country’s burden of chroni...

Authors: Yannai Kranzler, Nadav Davidovich, Yonina Fleischman, Itamar Grotto, Daniel S Moran and Ruth Weinstein

Use of a decision-analytic model in a health technology assessment: beyond measuring value for money

The well-designed, model-based cost-utility analysis by Ginsberg and colleagues provides useful information on the value for money of universal GBS screening in Israel. An extended application of the model-bas...

Authors: Sun-Young Kim

Crowd-out of defence and health spending: is Israel different from other industrialised nations?

Does high defence spending limit the growth of public health investment? Using comparative data from 31 OECD countries between 1980 and 2010, we find little evidence that defence crowds out public health spend...

Authors: Aaron Reeves and David Stuckler