This review investigates the effectiveness of utilizing foreign physicians or International Medical Graduates to alleviate medical shortages in rural and underserved areas of developed countries. Conducted in February 2024, this systematic review follows PRISMA 2020 guidelines, analysing 15 English-language studies from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The focus is on comparing physicians with international graduation to national graduates in rural and underserved contexts. Results reveal diverse trends across countries: in the United States, national graduates are generally more represented in rural areas, while foreign physicians are more prevalent in Health Professional Shortage Areas. In Canada, foreign graduates are more common in rural areas, varying by province. Australia and New Zealand show foreign physicians practicing more in rural areas than national counterparts. This study underscores significant reliance on foreign physicians to mitigate rural healthcare disparities. While this strategy partially addresses immediate shortages, long-term effectiveness is uncertain due to retention and integration challenges. Future policies should focus on sustainable solutions for equitable healthcare access and physicians’ retention in underserved areas. This review emphasizes also the need for Europe-specific studies and further evaluation of policy effectiveness.

Background Voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED) is a way to end one's life prematurely. We synthesized the empirical data on VSED. Methods In this systematic mixed-methods review, we searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and BELIT for English and German articles published between January 1, 2013 and November 12, 2021. We included quantitative and qualitative research examining the experiences, attitudes, and knowledge of people confronted with VSED. We inductively analyzed the data after quantitative data transformation. We assessed quality and confidence using the Mixed-Methods Appraisal Tool and GRADE-CERQual approach, respectively. This study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022283743). Findings We identified 22 eligible articles, comprising 16 studies. The participants were healthcare professionals and relatives, but not individuals undertaking VSED. We present here our findings on the challenges of accompanying VSED, positive experiences with VSED, and the identified needs. Support during VSED is needed at multiple levels (medical care, family relief, course planning), and the willingness to accompany VSED is very high among healthcare professionals. However, there are several problems, the most obvious being the lack of knowledge and expertise regarding VSED, placing a great burden on families and professionals. The confidence in the review findings ranged from moderate to low. Interpretation Evidence-based guidance, in-depth knowledge, and training of healthcare professionals can greatly reduce the burden and fear among individuals accompanying VSED.

The NHS is increasingly turning to the independent sector, primarily to alleviate elective care backlogs. However, implications for the healthcare system, patients and staff are not well understood. This paper provides a rapid narrative review of research evidence on NHS-funded elective care in the independent sector (IS) and the impact on patients, professionals, and the health care system. The aim was to identify the volume and evaluate the quality of the literature whilst providing a narrative synthesis. Studies were identified through Medline, CINAHL, Econlit, PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus. The quality of the included studies was assessed in relation to study design, sample size, relevance, methodology and methodological strength, outcomes and outcome reporting, and risk of bias. Our review included 40 studies of mixed quality. Many studies used quantitative data to analyse outcome trends across and between sectors. Independent sector providers (ISPs) can provide high-volume and low-complexity elective care of equivalent quality to the NHS, whilst reducing waiting times in certain contexts. However it is clear that the provision of NHS-funded elective care in the IS has a range of implications for public provision. These surround access and outcome inequalities, financial sustainability and NHS workforce impacts. It will subsequently be important for future empirical work to incorporate these caveats, providing a more nuanced interpretation of quantitative improvements.

This review investigates the effectiveness of utilizing foreign physicians or International Medical Graduates to alleviate medical shortages in rural and underserved areas of developed countries. Conducted in February 2024, this systematic review follows PRISMA 2020 guidelines, analysing 15 English-language studies from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The focus is on comparing physicians with international graduation to national graduates in rural and underserved contexts. Results reveal diverse trends across countries: in the United States, national graduates are generally more represented in rural areas, while foreign physicians are more prevalent in Health Professional Shortage Areas. In Canada, foreign graduates are more common in rural areas, varying by province. Australia and New Zealand show foreign physicians practicing more in rural areas than national counterparts. This study underscores significant reliance on foreign physicians to mitigate rural healthcare disparities. While this strategy partially addresses immediate shortages, long-term effectiveness is uncertain due to retention and integration challenges. Future policies should focus on sustainable solutions for equitable healthcare access and physicians’ retention in underserved areas. This review emphasizes also the need for Europe-specific studies and further evaluation of policy effectiveness.

The NHS is increasingly turning to the independent sector, primarily to alleviate elective care backlogs. However, implications for the healthcare system, patients and staff are not well understood. This paper provides a rapid narrative review of research evidence on NHS-funded elective care in the independent sector (IS) and the impact on patients, professionals, and the health care system. The aim was to identify the volume and evaluate the quality of the literature whilst providing a narrative synthesis. Studies were identified through Medline, CINAHL, Econlit, PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus. The quality of the included studies was assessed in relation to study design, sample size, relevance, methodology and methodological strength, outcomes and outcome reporting, and risk of bias. Our review included 40 studies of mixed quality. Many studies used quantitative data to analyse outcome trends across and between sectors. Independent sector providers (ISPs) can provide high-volume and low-complexity elective care of equivalent quality to the NHS, whilst reducing waiting times in certain contexts. However it is clear that the provision of NHS-funded elective care in the IS has a range of implications for public provision. These surround access and outcome inequalities, financial sustainability and NHS workforce impacts. It will subsequently be important for future empirical work to incorporate these caveats, providing a more nuanced interpretation of quantitative improvements.

Background Voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED) is a way to end one's life prematurely. We synthesized the empirical data on VSED. Methods In this systematic mixed-methods review, we searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and BELIT for English and German articles published between January 1, 2013 and November 12, 2021. We included quantitative and qualitative research examining the experiences, attitudes, and knowledge of people confronted with VSED. We inductively analyzed the data after quantitative data transformation. We assessed quality and confidence using the Mixed-Methods Appraisal Tool and GRADE-CERQual approach, respectively. This study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022283743). Findings We identified 22 eligible articles, comprising 16 studies. The participants were healthcare professionals and relatives, but not individuals undertaking VSED. We present here our findings on the challenges of accompanying VSED, positive experiences with VSED, and the identified needs. Support during VSED is needed at multiple levels (medical care, family relief, course planning), and the willingness to accompany VSED is very high among healthcare professionals. However, there are several problems, the most obvious being the lack of knowledge and expertise regarding VSED, placing a great burden on families and professionals. The confidence in the review findings ranged from moderate to low. Interpretation Evidence-based guidance, in-depth knowledge, and training of healthcare professionals can greatly reduce the burden and fear among individuals accompanying VSED.

Ageism in healthcare has received increased attention in recent years, but literature focusing on how it affects individuals living with rare diseases remains scant. The rare disease population already faces obstacles when navigating health systems, and ageism has the potential to exacerbate existing health inequities. We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed and gray literature on health inequities in rare disease populations, seeking to identify publications that reported primary or secondary data on the equitable or inequitable treatment of these populations, or that discussed related regulatory, moral, or philosophical issues. Our aims were to understand how health inequities in these populations arise, how they are justified from societal points of view, how they manifest themselves in laws and regulations, and what effects they have on health care access and health outcomes. We retrieved information from 63 publications, which we inductively synthesized into five categories: ethical discussions, societal preferences, regulations, access to care, and health outcomes. Integrating insights from these categories, we developed an Ethical Spectrum and Resource Allocation Framework, which explains the emergence of equity issues and how they are manifested in health systems. By providing a better understanding of the root causes of health inequities, particularly among older adults, the framework can inform health policymaking, improving access to care and health outcomes for rare disease patients.

Palliative care is a crucial discipline that alleviates suffering and enhances the quality of life for patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families. However, there is gap globally between the need for and availability of these services. Integrated health service networks offer a promising solution to address this gap in rural areas, by coordinating care across different levels and sectors. This scoping review aimed at identifying the key characteristics of palliative care networks in rural communities. A broad search without time limits was conducted in four databases. Analysis and synthesis were conducted using Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling. Sixteen studies were included, revealing four key themes regarding the development of palliative care networks in rural areas: community engagement is essential to secure the reach of rural networks, tailored approaches acknowledging diversity enrich these networks, team-centric efforts involving stakeholder coordination ensure successful implementation, and a multifaceted approach—empowering non-traditional stakeholders and incorporating technology resources into primary health services—dynamizes palliative care delivery in rural areas. These findings underscore the potential of collaborative and innovative approaches to enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of palliative care in underserved rural communities. Further cost-effectiveness studies are warranted to better understand the impact these strategies can have on health systems.

Background & Objective This systematic review evaluates the impact of guidelines on healthcare professionals’ behavior and explores the resulting outcomes. Methods Using PRISMA methodology, Scopus and Web of Science databases were searched, yielding 624 results. After applying inclusion criteria, 67 articles were selected for in-depth analysis. Results The studies focused on key clusters: Target behaviors, Effectiveness, Research designs, Behavioral frameworks, and Publication outlets. Prescription behavior was the most studied (58.2%), followed by other health-related behaviors (31.3%) and hygiene practices (10.4%). Significant behavior changes were reported in 46.3% of studies, with 17.9% showing negative effects, and 22.4% reporting mixed results. Quantitative methods dominated (56.8%), while qualitative methods (19.4%) and review designs (13.4%) were less common. Theoretical Domain Framework (TDF) and Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) were frequently used frameworks, with the UK and the USA contributing most studies. Medical doctors (44.8%) were the primary participants, followed by general healthcare providers (37.3%). Conclusions The study highlights the varied effectiveness of guidelines, with prescription behavior being the most investigated. Guidelines influenced behavior positively in less than half of the cases, and doctors were the primary focus, rather than nurses. The complexity of interventions suggests a need for further research to develop more effective behavioral interventions and to standardize methodological approaches to reduce clinical variation in healthcare.

Ageism in healthcare has received increased attention in recent years, but there appears to be scant literature focusing on how it affects individuals living with rare diseases. The rare disease population already faces obstacles when navigating health systems, and ageism has the potential to exacerbate existing health inequities. We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed and gray literature on health inequities in rare disease populations, seeking to identify publications that reported primary or secondary data on the equitable or inequitable treatment of these populations, or discussed related regulatory, moral, or philosophical issues. Our aims were to understand how health inequities in these populations arise, how they are justified from societal points of view, how they manifest themselves in laws and regulations, and what effects they have on health care access and health outcomes. We retrieved information from 63 publications, which we inductively synthesized into five categories: ethical discussions, societal preferences, regulations, access to care, and health outcomes. Integrating insights from these categories, we developed an Ethical Spectrum and Resource Allocation Framework, which explains the emergence of equity issues and how they are manifested in health systems. By providing a better understanding of the root causes of health inequities, particularly among older adults, the framework can inform health policymaking, improving access to care and health outcomes for rare disease patients.