Portuguese Health System, an Overview and a SWOT Review

Tavares, Aida Isabel

doi:10.2174/1874944501609010016

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The approach has been used widely in health research to assess the aspects of health care policy and provision to inform future planning [20][21][22]. While the SWOT analysis approach is better known for its use in organizations, the approach has also been used to analyze systems, specifically health systems [21,23]. In this paper, the SWOT analysis focused on the SWOT of using DHTs in health systems within the SSA region.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis of the Use of Digital Health Technologies in Primary Health Care in the Sub-Saharan African Region: Qualitative Study

O’Brien¹,

Li²,

Chaibva³

et al. 2023

J Med Internet Res

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Background Digital health technologies (DHTs) have become increasingly commonplace as a means of delivering primary care. While DHTs have been postulated to reduce inequalities, increase access, and strengthen health systems, how the implementation of DHTs has been realized in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) health care environment remains inadequately explored. Objective This study aims to capture the multidisciplinary experiences of primary care professionals using DHTs to explore the strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats, regarding the implementation and use of DHTs in SSA primary care settings. Methods A combination of qualitative approaches was adopted (ie, focus groups and semistructured interviews). Participants were recruited through the African Forum for Primary Care and researchers’ contact networks using convenience sampling and included if having experience with digital technologies in primary health care in SSA. Focus and interviews were conducted, respectively, in November 2021 and January-March 2022. Topic guides were used to cover relevant topics in the interviews, using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats framework. Transcripts were compiled verbatim and systematically reviewed by 2 independent reviewers using framework analysis to identify emerging themes. The COREQ (Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research) checklist was used to ensure the study met the recommended standards of qualitative data reporting. Results A total of 33 participants participated in the study (n=13 and n=23 in the interviews and in focus groups, respectively; n=3 participants participated in both). The strengths of using DHTs ranged from improving access to care, supporting the continuity of care, and increasing care satisfaction and trust to greater collaboration, enabling safer decision-making, and hastening progress toward universal health coverage. Weaknesses included poor digital literacy, health inequalities, lack of human resources, inadequate training, lack of basic infrastructure and equipment, and poor coordination when implementing DHTs. DHTs were perceived as an opportunity to improve patient digital literacy, increase equity, promote more patient-centric design in upcoming DHTs, streamline expenditure, and provide a means to learn international best practices. Threats identified include the lack of buy-in from both patients and providers, insufficient human resources and local capacity, inadequate governmental support, overly restrictive regulations, and a lack of focus on cybersecurity and data protection. Conclusions The research highlights the complex challenges of implementing DHTs in the SSA context as a fast-moving health delivery modality, as well as the need for multistakeholder involvement. Future research should explore the nuances of these findings across different technologies and settings in the SSA region and implications on health and health care equity, capitalizing on mixed-methods research, including the use of real-world quantitative data to understand patient health needs. The promise of digital health will only be realized when informed by studies that incorporate patient perspective at every stage of the research cycle.

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Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis of the Use of Digital Health Technologies in Primary Health Care in the Sub-Saharan African Region: Qualitative Study

O’Brien¹,

Li²,

Chaibva³

et al. 2023

J Med Internet Res

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show abstract

“…In addition, in what concerns weaknesses/opportunities strategies, central and local government initiatives can constitute strengths in the sense that they may be able to provide specific incentives for dealing with the lack of health professionals in the primary healthcare sector; in particular, creating the conditions to maintain the qualified healthcare professionals with degrees produced by Portugal is a challenge already emphasized in the literature, especially nurses [ 18 ]. This would have an impact on the quality of service, which would not only reduce waiting times but also increase user and personnel satisfaction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One way to do this is by means of a SWOT analysis. Despite being an established approach to structured planning, SWOT analysis finds its only application in health policy in Portugal in the work of Tavares [ 18 ], concerning the Portuguese health system, where the author uses SWOT tools to structure a literature review to better understand the situation of the SNS. Our study differs from the one of Tavares [ 18 ], since it concerns the primary healthcare sector and incorporates an expert panel, with a view to possible decision aiding.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite being an established approach to structured planning, SWOT analysis finds its only application in health policy in Portugal in the work of Tavares [ 18 ], concerning the Portuguese health system, where the author uses SWOT tools to structure a literature review to better understand the situation of the SNS. Our study differs from the one of Tavares [ 18 ], since it concerns the primary healthcare sector and incorporates an expert panel, with a view to possible decision aiding. An application of this tool in primary healthcare can be found in, e.g., van Durme et al [ 21 ], where the authors attempted to perceive the stakeholders’ standpoint on the organization of chronic care in Belgium.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For this reason, we propose a framework, inspired by the works of Mumssen, Saltiel, and Kingdom [ 17 ] and Tavares [ 18 ], that intends to understand how the Portuguese 2005 primary healthcare reform, which is still underway, is aligned in terms of policies, institutions, and regulations, focusing on their incentives aimed at achieving potentially significant financial and social changes via a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis, constructed alongside decision-making actors of the Portuguese Ministry of Health. Ultimately, this work serves the purpose of providing the foundations to aid actors involved in wider health policy making to understand how the enabling environment that surrounds them and the drivers that steer the aforementioned institutional interventions of their own primary healthcare reforms can lead to a more sustainable future.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Incentive-Based Framework for Analyzing the Alignment of Institutional Interventions in the Public Primary Healthcare Sector: The Portuguese Case

Pereira

Marques

2021

Healthcare

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Over the years, the Portuguese National Health Service has undergone several reforms to face the challenges posed by internal and external factors on the access to and quality of its health services. One of its most recent reforms addressed the primary healthcare sector, where understanding the incentives behind the actors of the inherent institutional interventions and how they are aligned with the governing health policies is paramount for reformative success. With the purpose of acknowledging the alignment of the primary healthcare sector’s institutional interventions from an incentive-based perspective, we propose a framework resting on a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis, which was built in cooperation with a panel of decision-making actors from the Portuguese Ministry of Health. In the end, we derive possible policy implications and strategies. This holistic approach highlighted the positive impact of the primary healthcare reform in the upgrade of physical resources and human capital but stressed the geosocial asymmetries and the lack of intra- and inter-sectorial coordination. The proposed framework serves also as a guideline for future primary healthcare reforms, both national- and internationally.

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The role and needs of family doctors in sexual medicine: contributions of a preliminary Portuguese qualitative study for a global action

Rodrigues,

Manão,

Tomada

et al. 2024

Int J Impot Res

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Portuguese Health System, an Overview and a SWOT Review

Cited by 4 publications

References 24 publications

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis of the Use of Digital Health Technologies in Primary Health Care in the Sub-Saharan African Region: Qualitative Study

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis of the Use of Digital Health Technologies in Primary Health Care in the Sub-Saharan African Region: Qualitative Study

An Incentive-Based Framework for Analyzing the Alignment of Institutional Interventions in the Public Primary Healthcare Sector: The Portuguese Case

The role and needs of family doctors in sexual medicine: contributions of a preliminary Portuguese qualitative study for a global action

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