Utilisation and costs of nursing agencies in the South African public health sector, 2005–2010

We explored some of the questions posed by digitalisation in an accompanying working paper focused on constitutional theory: Digitalisation, the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ and the Constitutional Law of Privacy in South Africa. In that paper, we asked what legal resources are available in the South African legal system to respond to the risk and benefits posed by digitalisation. We argued that this question would be best answered by developing what we have termed a 'South African public law perspective'. In our view, while any particular legal system may often lag behind, the law constitutes an adaptive resource that can and should respond to disruptive technological change by re-examining existing concepts and creating new, more adequate conceptions. Our public law perspective reframes privacy law as both a private and a public good essential to the functioning of a constitutional democracy in the era of digitalisation. In this working paper, we take the analysis one practical step further: we use our public law perspective on digitalisation in the South African health sector. We do so because this sector is significant in its own right – public health is necessary for a healthy society – and also to further explore how and to what extent the South African constitutional framework provides resources at least roughly adequate for the challenges posed by the current 'digitalisation plus' era. The theoretical perspective we have developed is certainly relevant to digitalisation’s impact in the health sector. The social, economic and political progress that took place in the 20th century was strongly correlated with technological change of the first three industrial revolutions. The technological innovations associated with what many are terming ‘the fourth industrial revolution’ are also of undoubted utility in the form of new possibilities for enhanced productivity, business formation and wealth creation, as well as the enhanced efficacy of public action to address basic needs such as education and public health.

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Addressing Structural Inhibitors of Change in Public Health Sector Organizations: A South African Case

Journal of Change Management ◽

10.1080/14697010801937499 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 37-56

Author(s):

Ken Dovey

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

South African ◽

Health Sector ◽

Public Health Sector

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An exploratory study on Telemedicine in the South African Public Health Sector: A case of Gauteng Province

10.29007/vpdt ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Tope Samuel Adeyelure ◽

Billy Mathias Kalema

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Technology Acceptance ◽

South African ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Care Delivery ◽

Health Sector ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Perceived Usefulness ◽

Research Approach ◽

Public Health Sector

Health systems in South African comprises of both the private sector and the public sector, run by the government. Majority of the population access health services through public clinics and hospitals. Public health sectors are understaffed, with inadequate resources, especially in rural areas. Information and communication technology and its applications can be seen as a way forward to counteract some of the challenges faced in public health sectors. Telemedicine can be tool to assist in bridging the gaps in this regard. Telemedicine is health-care delivery concept that enables distant to be examined by medical practitioners using telecommunications technologies. Therefore, this research study aimed to investigate factors that influences users’ readiness to accept telemedicine in South African public health sectors environment. To achieve this objective, this study followed a positivism paradigm, supported by the quantitative research approach. Organization and Environment (in TOE framework) constructs, technology compatibility (in model of information technology implementation), perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use (in Technology Acceptance Model, (TAM))guided the development of hypotheses and their testing for this study. The findings reveal that technology, environment, organization, information quality, and security are factors that inform pre-implementation of telemedicine in South African public health sector.

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Comprehension and acceptability of a patient information leaflet (pil) for antiretroviral therapy

Health SA Gesondheid ◽

10.4102/hsag.v11i3.236 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Betty Mwingira ◽

Ros Dowse

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Antiretroviral Therapy ◽

South African ◽

Patient Information ◽

Full Text ◽

Health Sector ◽

Patient Information Leaflet ◽

Information Leaflet ◽

First Line ◽

Public Health Sector

The patient information leaflet (PIL) is recognised as playing a key role in informing patients about their medicines. The objectives of this research were to evaluate the readability and understanding of a PIL for the first-line ARV (antiretroviral) regimen available in the South African public health sector, and investigate its acceptability in the target Xhosa population. Opsomming Daar word algemeen aanvaar dat die pasiëntinligtingsblaadjie (PIB) ‘n sleutelrol speel in die oordra van inligting ten opsigte van medikasie aan pasiënte. Die doelwitte van hierdie navorsing was om die leesbaarheid en begrip van ‘n PIB vir die eerste-linie antiretrovirale (ARV) regimen wat in die Suid-Afrikaanse openbare gesondheidsektor beskikbaar is, te evalueer, en om die aanvaarbaarheid daarvan in ‘n teiken-Xhosabevolking te ondersoek. *Please note: This is a reduced version of the abstract. Please refer to PDF for full text.

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