Luxembourg Declaration Research Articles

Preventing Shift Work Disorder in Shift Health-care Workers.

The occurrence of the shift work disorder (SWD) in health-care workers (HCWs) employed in 24/7 hospital wards is a major concern through the world. In accordance with literature, SWD is the most frequent work-related disturb in HCWs working on shift schedules including night shift. In agreement with the Luxembourg Declaration on workplace health promotion (WHP) in the European Union, a WHP program has been developed in a large Hospital, involving both individual-oriented and organizational-oriented measures, with the aim to prevent the occurrence of SWD in nurses working on shifts including night shift. The objective assessment of rotating shift work risk and the excessive sleepiness were detected before and after the implementation of the WHP program, by using the Rotating Shiftwork-questionnaire and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. The findings of this study showed the effectiveness of the implemented WHP program in minimizing the impact of shift work on workers' health and in preventing the misalignment between sleep-wake rhythm and shift working.

The legislative backgrounds of workplace health promotion in three European countries: a comparative analysis.

BackgroundThis article investigates the legal database and theoretical basis of workplace health promotion (WHP) in three European countries: Finland, Latvia and Lithuania, and aims to find insights into effective WHP implementation.MethodsIn November 2013, a stakeholders’ survey was carried out. The questionnaire included questions about legal documents and non-legislative measures relevant to WHP, institutions and other bodies/organizations working in the field, WHP conception/definition, and implementation of WHP activities according to the enterprises’ size.ResultsOnly Finland has adopted a specific law on occupational health care (separate from occupational safety). ILO conventions No. 161 (Occupational Health Services Convention) and No. 187 (Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention) are ratified only in Finland. In Finland, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health acts as one ministry, while two Baltic countries have two separate ministries (one for health and another for social affairs). None of the countries has legally approved a definition of WHP. Latvia and Lithuania tend to separate WHP from other activities, whereas Finland integrates WHP into other occupational health and safety elements.ConclusionsFinland has a more extensive legislative and organizational background to WHP than Latvia and Lithuania. In defining WHP, all the countries refer to the Luxembourg Declaration on Workplace Health Promotion in the European Union. Finland’s practice of integrating WHP into other occupational health and safety elements is important.

Specifics of risk management in select medical facility

Risk management in medical facilities within the Czech Republic is one of the important tasks of their management, supported by the Ministry of Health pursuant to the Luxembourg Declaration on Patient Safety. In connection with modern trends in integrated management, risk management should be an integral part of the “whole-hospital” management. The aim of the research realized under the support of IGA MZ ČR within the project – Ref. nr. NT 14133 “Advancement of Safety of Nursing Care” has been identification and description of specifics of risk management from the aspect of nurse-managers in selected medical facilities. According to the addressed managers risk management is focused on detection of a risk situation in processes which lead or could lead to errors and mistakes. The aim of risk management in these hospitals has been elimination or reduction of occurrence of these risks which could damage patient's health as well as medical staff's health as well as the whole medical facility generally by its negative effect. Possible risks are actively sought out, identified and then assessed. Risk management has been connected with process management and quality management in examined medical facilities. Just the quality indicators, which have been established and followed by each medical facility, can also significantly influence risk management. Regular quality audits also contribute to detection of potential risk situations. Interconnection of management systems aims at deepening of system approach in management of medical facilities, continual advancement of health service quality, advancement of efficiency process and risk management.

Case study on “Participation” as lead-in tool for enterprises without prior experiences in Workplace Health Promotion, Austria 2014

Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) aims to enhance the health and well-being of people at work by improving the working environment and promoting active participation (Luxembourg Declaration). Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Austria are less active in this field. This project evaluates “Participation” as a best-practice-tool to facilitate the initiation of WHP in SMEs. Method Case Study evaluation of four WHP interventions that took part from October 2013 until March 2014 and were composed of …

Workplace health promotion within small and medium‐sized enterprises

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore managers' understanding of workplace health promotion (WHP) and experiences of WHP activity within small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in a Health and Social Care Trust area of Northern Ireland. The paper aims to focus on engagement with activities within the context of prevention of ill‐health and health protection, lifestyle issues and working culture and the environment as defined in the Luxembourg Declaration on WHP.Design/methodology/approachA Heideggerian interpretive phenomenological methodology is adopted, using in‐depth telephone interviews with a purposive sample of 18 SME managers. Data are analysed using Benner's strategy for data analysis.Findings“Levels of awareness of WHP activity” are revealed as a central theme and interpreted as “high awareness activities”, including the need to: preserve and protect employee health and safety, prevent ill‐health and injury and promote employees' quality of daily living, and “low awareness activities”, including the provision of training and development, human resource management and environmental considerations.Originality/valueAn “Iceberg” model, grounded in the data, draws attention to the limited awareness of what constitutes WHP activities and the untapped meaningfulness of organisational and environmental activities.

Betriebliche Gesundheitsförderung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

The Luxembourg Declaration defines workplace health promotion (WHP) as the combined efforts of employers, employees and society to improve the health and well-being of people at work. WHP aims at encouraging personal development and healthy lifestyle, improving work organisation and the working environment by a wide range of measures, and at promoting active participation of employees in WHP processes. The procedure of WHP is oriented on the Cycle of Business Excellence. This article presents the development, methods, projects, evaluation and quality control of WHP.

The Luxembourg Declaration on Patient Safety: a political comment

Services provided for European citizens’ healthcare are not services like standard commercial services. Healthcare services need to be accessible, independent of the citizen’s economic or social background and should at the same time be available to all at the best possible quality level. The Luxembourg Declaration on Patient Safety recognizes these challenging fundamental principles. Patient safety is a key aspect for all European policy makers, as it is a vital question of equitable access to health care. Nevertheless we know that unfortunately a considerable amount of avoidable safety events still occur all across Europe! However differently organized our national health systems may be, it is vital to share experience and knowledge at a European level in order to be able to learn from the experiences of the different memberstates. No uniform solution can be found and decreed from the bottom down, nevertheless Europe can contribute and help to raise standards by a common effort. The Luxembourg Declaration is a launching pad for European progress in this field as it sets important goals and demonstrates the steps to be undertaken. It is a calling and gives us hope for measurable progress in the future.

EU health stakeholders and patient safety

The Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME) has been actively promoting patient safety for a long time, well before the issue was given a firm place on the European and international agendas. Among its efforts to help raise the profile of patient safety, CPME organised a conference on the 4th and 5th April 2005 together with a group of EU health stakeholders that covered the whole spectrum of healthcare delivery. The European Conference ‘Patient Safety – Making it happen!’ took place in Luxembourg under the auspices of the Luxembourg EU presidency and EU Commissioner Kyprianou and resulted in the “Luxembourg Declaration on Patient Safety”. This Declaration contains recommendations to the EU, national authorities and healthcare organizations. It underlines the added value of the EU and recommends joining forces with the WHO Alliance for Patient Safety. A culture of transparency, trust and safety is being sought for through the suggested use of e-health, flows of health information, patient involvement and reporting systems. CPME saw perseverance and commitment pay off as patient safety is now seen as a priority by all health stakeholders and EU institutional bodies (European Commission, presidencies and Council). However all parties realise full well that the Luxembourg Declaration on Patient Safety is only the first step. All efforts are now focussed on follow up and implementation.

From the Harvard Medical Practice Study to the Luxembourg Declaration. Changes in the approach to patient safety. Closing remarks

Since the Harvard Medical Practice Study was published in 1991 the growing mass of international literature has demonstrated that medical adverse events can cause iatrogenic illnesses, prolonged hospitalisations and increased costs. In 1999-2001, reports made by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in the USA, the Department of Health (DoH) in the UK and the Australian Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) stressed the necessity for creating a safer environment and a reporting culture throughout healthcare systems. They also emphasized the need for researchers to investigate means of turning policies into practice. Since their publication a lot of effort has gone into collecting data on adverse events and near misses. As a result, in 2001, the AHRQ published a Health Technology Assessment report on best practices for patient safety. While in Australia national meetings have been dedicated to address important issues across the whole spectrum of healthcare. In the UK the Audit Commission has published a report that is also focused on medication safety: “A spoonful of sugar”. In 2004 the World Health Organisation promoted a Patient Safety Alliance; while in April 2005the Standing Committee of European Doctors organised a Conference in Luxembourg called “Patient safety - Making it happen!”. The issue of patient safety is therefore seen as a priority by EU institutional bodies and by many European health stakeholders.