Abstract
Strike action in healthcare has been common over the last several decades. The overarching aim of this systematic review was to synthesise and analyse the empirical literature that examines the impact of strike action on patient morbidity, that is, all patient outcomes except mortality. After conducting a search and apply eligibility criteria, 15 studies were included in this review. These articles included a variety of outcomes from hypertension control to rates of chlamydia. Strikes ranged from 13 to 118 days, with a mean strike length of 56 days. A textual narrative synthesis was employed to arrange studies by whether they had a positive, mixed or neutral or negative impact on patient morbidity. Results suggest that strike action has little impact on patient morbidity. The majority of studies reported that strike action had a neutral or mixed impact of strike action on patient morbidity. One study reported positive outcomes and three studies reported negative outcomes, however in both cases, the impact that the strike had was marginal.
Highlights
Strike action in healthcare has been common over the last several decades
The overarching aim of this review is to synthesise and analyse the empirical literature that examines the impact of strike action on patient morbidity, that is, all patient outcomes except mortality
The 15 articles included measured a variety of outcomes from hypertension control to rates of chlamydia
Summary
Strike action in healthcare has been common over the last several decades. Strikes have occurred on almost every continent, for a range of reasons. They have been carried out over a matter of hours to hundreds of days. Most debates centre on the impact that strike action could have on patients, with those arguing both for and against such action citing patient safety as a major concern 1. These concerns have some basis as strikes, by definition are designed to disrupt the delivery of care
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