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Access to Healthcare Following Serious Injury: Perspectives of Allied Health Professionals in Urban and Regional Settings

Barriers to accessing healthcare exist following serious injury. These issues are not well understood and may have dire consequences for healthcare utilisation and patients’ long-term recovery. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore factors perceived by allied health professionals to affec...

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Autores principales: Keeves, Jemma, Braaf, Sandra C., Ekegren, Christina L., Beck, Ben, Gabbe, Belinda J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7908447/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33573066
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031230
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author Keeves, Jemma
Braaf, Sandra C.
Ekegren, Christina L.
Beck, Ben
Gabbe, Belinda J.
author_facet Keeves, Jemma
Braaf, Sandra C.
Ekegren, Christina L.
Beck, Ben
Gabbe, Belinda J.
author_sort Keeves, Jemma
collection PubMed
description Barriers to accessing healthcare exist following serious injury. These issues are not well understood and may have dire consequences for healthcare utilisation and patients’ long-term recovery. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore factors perceived by allied health professionals to affect access to healthcare beyond hospital discharge for people with serious injuries in urban and regional Victoria, Australia. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with community-based allied health professionals involved in post-discharge care for people following serious injury across different urban and regional areas. Interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Many allied health professionals perceived that complex funding systems and health services restrict access in both urban and regional areas. Limited availability of necessary health professionals was consistently reported, which particularly restricted access to mental healthcare. Access to healthcare was also felt to be hindered by a reliance on others for transportation, costs, emotional stress and often lengthy time of travel. Across urban and regional areas, a number of factors limit access to healthcare. Better understanding of health service delivery models and areas for change, including the use of technology and telehealth, may improve equitable access to healthcare.
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spelling pubmed-79084472021-02-27 Access to Healthcare Following Serious Injury: Perspectives of Allied Health Professionals in Urban and Regional Settings Keeves, Jemma Braaf, Sandra C. Ekegren, Christina L. Beck, Ben Gabbe, Belinda J. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Barriers to accessing healthcare exist following serious injury. These issues are not well understood and may have dire consequences for healthcare utilisation and patients’ long-term recovery. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore factors perceived by allied health professionals to affect access to healthcare beyond hospital discharge for people with serious injuries in urban and regional Victoria, Australia. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with community-based allied health professionals involved in post-discharge care for people following serious injury across different urban and regional areas. Interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Many allied health professionals perceived that complex funding systems and health services restrict access in both urban and regional areas. Limited availability of necessary health professionals was consistently reported, which particularly restricted access to mental healthcare. Access to healthcare was also felt to be hindered by a reliance on others for transportation, costs, emotional stress and often lengthy time of travel. Across urban and regional areas, a number of factors limit access to healthcare. Better understanding of health service delivery models and areas for change, including the use of technology and telehealth, may improve equitable access to healthcare. MDPI 2021-01-29 2021-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7908447/ /pubmed/33573066 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031230 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Keeves, Jemma
Braaf, Sandra C.
Ekegren, Christina L.
Beck, Ben
Gabbe, Belinda J.
Access to Healthcare Following Serious Injury: Perspectives of Allied Health Professionals in Urban and Regional Settings
title Access to Healthcare Following Serious Injury: Perspectives of Allied Health Professionals in Urban and Regional Settings
title_full Access to Healthcare Following Serious Injury: Perspectives of Allied Health Professionals in Urban and Regional Settings
title_fullStr Access to Healthcare Following Serious Injury: Perspectives of Allied Health Professionals in Urban and Regional Settings
title_full_unstemmed Access to Healthcare Following Serious Injury: Perspectives of Allied Health Professionals in Urban and Regional Settings
title_short Access to Healthcare Following Serious Injury: Perspectives of Allied Health Professionals in Urban and Regional Settings
title_sort access to healthcare following serious injury: perspectives of allied health professionals in urban and regional settings
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7908447/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33573066
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031230
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