Understanding health care workers’ anxieties in a diversifying world
Date
2007-11
Authors
Daniels, Karen
Swartz, Leslie
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLOS)
Abstract
We live in an age of evidencebased
medicine, and with
good reason. It is important
to be able to evaluate the likely impact
of various interventions, and it is no
longer acceptable to practice health
care on the basis of received wisdom
and anecdotal evidence, which has
convincingly been shown to be subject
to serious bias. One of the dangers of the evidence
revolution in health care, however,
is that the emphasis on an actuarial
approach (see Glossary) to evaluating
health interventions may obscure the
influence of more complex interactions
between patients and health
professionals. The impact of these
interactions upon health care outcomes
may be idiosyncratic and rather
difficult to measure. Two important
ways in which evidence-based medicine
has attempted to account for these
interactions are the increasing
emphasis on what is variously called
effectiveness (as opposed to efficacy)
research, and the project to
turn evidence into clinical practice
guidelines so that patients receive
consistent care.
Description
The original publication is available at http://www.plosmedicine.org
Keywords
Health care workers -- Psychological aspects, Health care workers -- Research, Health care -- Ethnic diversity, Health professionals -- Psychological aspects
Citation
Daniels, K & Swartz, L. 2007. Understanding health care workers’ anxieties in a diversifying world. PLoS Med, 4(11), e319, doi:10.1371/journal. pmed.0040319.