For decades now the developed countries worried about sustaining their health systems. Spending on healthcare increases as countries become more prosperous and concerned about improving their wellbeing, but different factors contribute decisively to this continued increased spending on health:
- Growth, development and increased spread of health technology.
Health technology, diagnostic and therapeutic techniques and new procedures have contributed decisively to improving the health of the general population.
- Increasing demand for, and use of, services.
This is because of three factors:
o The ageing of the population is a very important factor in the rise in expenses in the developed countries: it increases the possibility of developing a chronic disease, and means higher costs in health care.
o The increase in chronic and degenerative diseases. Healthcare has improved, which means that more people are becoming chronic patients who depend on health services. To this must be added some diseases common to developed countries such as obesity, sedentary lifestyle or tobacco use.
o People have a greater expectation that medicine will cure them because there has been an improvement in the quality of life, and they are less tolerant about accepting disease.
- Others such as an increase in spending on medicine, the ineffectiveness of administrative models, etc.
In this complex setting, hospitals have to respond effectively and efficiently to peoples’ health needs. Hospitals must manage complex organizations in a setting of financial instability, limited and reduced resources, and higher expectations by society.
What can we do, and what will the hospital of the future be like?
-The hospital will find its principal allies from among the health professionals, and the managers should be leaders who direct leaders so as to create organized teams that carry out processes of integrated patient attention. These multidisciplinary teams will break down the current compartmentalized structures of units and services, which are not oriented toward these new processes.
-There should be more case workers to connect the patient with the rest of the team. Beside continuing to develop outpatient procedures, they should make the hospital a place for care.
-Computerized, digitalized hospitals will be created, and will use new technologies such as big data when making clinical decisions.
-It will be necessary to manage care for chronic patients, and move less complex services to other levels (primary care, district
hospitals, clinics, etc). Broaden the role of nurses in instructing patients about health and prevention. Bring treatment to patients and favor their access to less specialized health centers. Gain the support of patients’ associations.
-It is important to provide services that patients and their families consider to be excellent. Manage in an ongoing and direct way the quality of these processes and services.
-Finally, it is necessary to have hospital managers who are effective and involved and are able to lead in difficult times so as to achieve the dedication of the professionals, without whom all this is not possible.
The fundamental role of health authorities is to make citizens aware and involve them so that they will make adequate use of the health resources and take part in measures for prevention and self-care.
