Call for papers for the 1st “Short-termism in healthcare” Conference, 30 April-1 May, 2022

Keynote Speaker: Diana Slade

Abstract Due Date: Thursday 1 April 2022

Register

This conference brings together academics, economist, administrators, policy-makers and practitioners from a wide variety of fields, for a collaborative, multidisciplinary exploration of the social, legal and economic frameworks within which our societies and politicians make healthcare decisions and plan for future healthcare systems. Abstracts are peer-reviewed.  Themes and issues for the conference include, but are not limited to:

 

Stream A          Healthcare planning and policy

The good country index reflects how a country’s policies and activities impact the planet. Absentee political leadership has inculcated widespread acceptance of corporate profit priorities, despite their being demonstrably wasteful and socially destructive. Short-termism reduces the potential of the entire economy, undermines the creation and sustaining of fundamental value in human societies, and harms the people the economy should serve. These priorities and processes have damaged the systems through which we provide healthcare, which are of fundamental value. Insurers, employers and governments try to pay for as little as possible, where patients and practitioners are focused on outcomes. The pandemic exposed our critical need for long-term healthcare planning, to mitigate future risk, and avoid the cost of  future failures to plan. How can we create cost-effective but also outcomes-oriented healthcare systems? How can we move towards longer-term planning in healthcare? Build capacity and resilience in healthcare systems? Balance costs and outcomes? Communicate these priorities?

 

Stream B       Healthcare safety and quality

Healthcare is a local phenomenon, across the globe. Most of the world’s healthcare is delivered by practitioners working in small hospitals and clinics, as well as community health services functioning on small budgets. How can we use communication, to enhance patient safety and quality? Local providers receive little state funding, and must deal with insurers, government paperwork, billing and accounting. They juggle rising costs for medicines and equipment, make decisions about staff and spending priorities, and the need to invest in new technologies and the related training. How do they balance these demands with providing safe and good quality healthcare? How can communication help healthcare providers deal with the major health burdens of the coming decade, such as smoking, addiction, obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and dementia? We welcome experience narratives from people working in any related role or field. What was the experience like? What were the problems? What were the communication issues? For more information on putting together an experience narrative, please see here.

 

Stream C          Health crises and the law

The pandemic revealed the global lack of effective laws supporting public health institutions, public protection, and preparedness. What legal frameworks are affordable and viable? Should governments regulate the stockpiling of medicines and medical devices? How should they handle testing, tracing and vaccine production during public health crises? Governments across the globe have shown themselves to be ineffectual leaders in health crises. Are women leaders better healthcare decision makers? What institutional and organisational approaches offer effective alternatives? Individuals and communities, populations have responded negatively to lockdowns, face coverings and social distancing. Why are some countries better at this than others? What have the problems been, with penalties and policing? Are the legal and social measures used to regulate non-communicable disease risks such as alcohol and smoking applicable? How has the pandemic altered our views of patient and frontline workers’ rights?

 

Stream D          Data analytics and short-termism

In order to explore these issues in public health crises, we are soliciting research cooperation from lawyers and legal scholars, clinicians and practitioners, academics and researchers, and others. These papers use structured interview questions, and evaluate this data with content analysis software. Conference participants interested in cooperating with this effort will publish papers in a journal special issue with HEDRA advisory board members.  If you are interested in this, please click here.

 

The conference welcomes abstracts from academics and researchers working in medicine and healthcare, business and management, government and politics, the social sciences and business, and in interdisciplinary and interprofessional fields, and others. We also welcome experience narratives, case studies, and situation reports from members of the public, people working in any related field, and specialists. You can find more information on this here. Participants will be able to watch a plenary session, and participate in a live-stream roundtable, and a conference roundtable discussions.

Register