Search Results (90)

Background: Healthcare policy in the United Kingdom recognizes that teenagers and young adults (TYAs: 16–24 years at diagnosis) require specialist care. In England, Principal Treatment Centers (PTCs) exist, delivering enhanced care exclusively within the PTC or as ‘joint care’ with designated hospitals (DHs). Central to this is the TYA multidisciplinary team (MDT) and an outreach model coordinating care between hospitals. We previously reported similar outcomes regardless of care location. Aims: To compare TYA experiences of care with healthcare professionals’ perspectives of the service they deliver. Methods: Mixed methods across England and Wales were used. The TYA-MDT identified TYAs who then received a postal invite to a cross-sectional survey capturing experiences of places of care, treatment, healthcare professional support (HCP), mental health, sexuality/fertility, clinical trials and care coordination. Comparisons were made based on exposure to care in a specialist TYA environment within 6 months of diagnosis: all-TYA-PTC (all care in the TYA-PTC, n = 70, 28%), no-TYA-PTC (no care in the TYA-PTC (n = 87, 35%): care delivered in a children/adult unit only), and joint care (care in a TYA-PTC and in a children’s/adult unit, n = 91, 36%). HCP perspectives were captured by rapid ethnography. Results: A total of 250/1056 (24%) TYAs participated. Overall, 200 (80%) rated their teams as excellent/good for helping them prepare for treatment. No evidence of significant differences existed between categories of care for proportions receiving support from key TYA-related professionals: TYA cancer nurse specialists (all-TYA-PTC n = 58, 91%; joint care n = 71, 88%; no-TYA-PTC n = 64, 82%) and social workers (all-TYA-PTC n = 30, 55%; joint care n = 36, 48%; no-TYA-PTC n = 28, 38%). A trend of diminishing support from youth support co-coordinators existed (all-TYA-PTC 63%; joint care 49%; no-TYA-PTC 40%, p = 0.069). This may explain why few differences in patient experiences existed across categories of care. Forty-nine HCPs participated. They were more critical in their interpretation of care, highlighting inequity in resources and challenges in some pathways and coordination. Conclusions: Similar access to age-appropriate support across care settings is likely to reflect recruitment methods. When TYAs are known to the MDT, age-appropriate care can be mobilized beyond TYA units, which could explain the equitable outcomes observed across different care locations in young people who responded to the survey. Nevertheless, gaps persist in communication and coordination, particularly within joint care models, and in the involvement of allied health professionals such as dieticians and physiotherapists, whose input is essential for rehabilitation and return to normal life. Strengthening these areas will require continued investment in workforce capacity and digital infrastructure to support genuinely coordinated, developmentally appropriate TYA cancer care. Full article

Background: Job satisfaction among nursing staff is a key determinant of workforce stability, quality of care, and healthcare system sustainability. Nurses are increasingly exposed to high workload, staffing shortages, and complex organizational demands, which may adversely affect satisfaction and retention. The aim of this study was to examine job satisfaction among nursing staff working across different levels of healthcare in Slovenia and to identify organisational and sociodemographic factors associated with job satisfaction. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted among nursing staff employed in Slovenian healthcare settings. Data were collected using an online questionnaire that included the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) and sociodemographic, occupational, and organizational variables. Differences in job satisfaction across professional groups were examined using non-parametric tests. Associations between job satisfaction dimensions and explanatory variables were analysed using Spearman’s correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify independent predictors of job satisfaction. Results: Organizational and workload-related factors emerged as the most consistent determinants of job satisfaction across all JSS dimensions and total satisfaction. Unclear job task definitions, high workload, insufficient staffing, continuous healthcare provision, unfavourable work schedules, and limited opportunities for rest were associated with lower job satisfaction. In contrast, financially compensated overtime, supportive supervision, higher perceived employer quality, longer tenure in the current position were associated with higher satisfaction in several domains. Sociodemographic variables showed weaker and less consistent effects after adjustment for organizational characteristics. Intentions to change jobs within or outside the healthcare system were strongly associated with lower satisfaction across nearly all dimensions. Conclusions: Job satisfaction among nursing staff is shaped predominantly by modifiable organizational factors rather than demographic characteristics. Interventions aimed at improving task clarity, staffing adequacy, work organization, leadership practices, and recovery opportunities may enhance job satisfaction and contribute to a more sustainable nursing workforce. Full article

Background: Work-related stress represents a major challenge for nursing professionals and has significant implications for well-being, job satisfaction, and workforce stability. This study aimed to assess psychosocial working conditions and workplace stress among nurses in Slovenia and to identify organisational and occupational factors associated with stress exposure across different levels of care. Methods: A cross-sectional, non-experimental study was conducted using an online self-administered questionnaire. The sample included 736 nurses employed in outpatient settings, hospital wards, and high-intensity care units. Work-related stress was assessed using the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Work-Related Stress Indicator Tool. Group differences were examined using the Kruskal–Wallis test with Bonferroni-adjusted post hoc comparisons. Associations between HSE dimensions and sociodemographic and work-related variables were analysed using Spearman’s correlation coefficients and multiple linear regression models. Results: Statistically significant differences between job positions by level of care were observed for all HSE domains except Demands. Differences in psychosocial working conditions were observed across levels of care, with several domains showing more favourable scores in outpatient and hospital ward settings compared with high-intensity care environments. Regression analyses identified job position by level of care, education level, income, workload indicators, continuous healthcare provision, and job mobility intentions as significant predictors across multiple HSE dimensions. Correlation analyses revealed consistent associations between adverse psychosocial working conditions, increased workload, and indicators of job mobility. Conclusions: This study shows that psychosocial working conditions among nurses in Slovenia differ by level of care, with several domains showing more favourable scores in outpatient and hospital ward settings than in high-intensity care environments. Work organisation—especially workload, role clarity, and managerial and peer support—was central to stress, linking adverse conditions to workforce instability and retention risks. Full article

The mainstreaming of remote work has catalyzed the rise of the new tribe, the kinetic elite, a demographic comprising digital nomads and workationers who utilize technology to separate work from geography. Yet, this apparently free lifestyle often leads to a freedom trap, where the collapsing boundaries between work and leisure necessitate intense self-discipline within spaces originally architected for tourism. Drawing on an integrated framework of quality of destination features, service, and experience, this study investigates the antecedents of satisfaction and loyalty for this niche market of mobile workforce. Data were collected from 325 international digital nomads and workationers in Thailand using a purposive sampling approach. The proposed integrated model was empirically tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The analysis challenges the hardware-first paradigm of destination development. Findings indicate that while digital infrastructure (connectivity) and geoarbitrage (value) are non-negotiable baselines, they employ limited influence on ultimate satisfaction. Instead, human infrastructure, specifically the quality of staff and host–community interactions, emerges as the primary determinant in converting a location from a travel stop into a functional home base. These results advocate for a strategic plan toward precision niche marketing, moving beyond a homogenous view of the sector to target the community-seeking segment. Furthermore, the study frames community integration as a core practice of social sustainability, suggesting that for destinations to evolve into vibrant knowledge ecologies, Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) must prioritize community facilitation and smart policies that mitigate the social isolation inherent in nomadic life. Full article

This paper develops a region-specific technological transformation strategy for the automotive and mobility sector in Southeast Lower Saxony (SON) under conditions of high uncertainty driven by electrification, digitalization, and automation. The study integrates three analytical components: (i) a SWOT-based baseline assessment of SON’s current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; (ii) a scenario-technique framework describing alternative German mobility futures toward 2035; and (iii) a two-round Delphi survey with experts from the Institutes of Automotive Engineering and Engineering Design to evaluate actionable transformation measures. SWOT factors are mapped to scenario key-factor projections and assessed using a trinary impact scale (−1/0/+1), followed by aggregation and normalization to derive scenario-specific change factors. Delphi-rated measures are then prioritized using scenario-overarching performance and SWOT relevance, yielding a tiered strategy concept. The resulting strategy is organized around five interdependent pillars: strengthening industry–research cooperation, advancing research in modern mobility, developing key mobility-support technologies (battery technology, AI, circular economy), expanding digital infrastructure, and upgrading R&D infrastructure and talent capacity, supported by enabling regulatory and workforce measures. The paper provides focus points from regional diagnosis to prioritized action, supporting robust strategic decision-making and adaptive capability building in SON. Full article

The Dubai Government has made significant investments in digital learning through platforms such as Al Mawrid and Bayanati, enabling widespread access to employee training and upskilling. However, there remains a major gap in translating accumulated learning into intelligent workforce restructuring. This paper proposes “SkillChain DX,” a policy-driven framework that applies artificial intelligence (AI) to dynamically map employee-acquired skills to evolving job roles across departments, developed using a conceptual design science and policy analysis approach. The framework integrates blockchain to ensure secure, tamper-proof verification of skill credentials across diverse training platforms. To validate feasibility, a pilot prototype was implemented using sentence-transformer models for semantic skill inference and cryptographic hashing mechanisms for decentralized credential verification. Experimental evaluation across six controlled scenarios demonstrated an average role-matching accuracy of approximately 82%, blockchain transaction throughput exceeding 1000 operations per second, and near-instant credential verification with over 99% performance improvement compared to manual processes. The findings demonstrate that integrating AI-driven skill inference with decentralized credential verification can significantly enhance internal mobility, role alignment, and workforce planning at a policy level. The study benchmarks international practices and outlines a practical implementation path for the Dubai Government using only publicly available technologies and case studies, positioning SkillChain DX as one of the first integrated AI–blockchain policy frameworks tailored to public sector human resources (HR) transformation in Dubai. The proposed system framework bridges the current disconnect between training access and organizational transformation, supporting a proactive, transparent, and skills-first public sector, while offering actionable policy insights for future government HR modernization. Full article

This study investigates the spatial dimensions of labour market polarization in Hungary by examining the widening gap between developed agglomerations and lagging peripheral regions. It explores how educational inequality, technology-driven risks, and constrained mobility affect the spatial aspects of labour market polarization. It covers all 197 districts of Hungary on the LAU-1 level. Using cluster analysis and OLS regression models, we shall explore relationships between employment rates, educational attainment, automation exposure—as based on occupation-level data—and a composite mobility index. From the data, we detected distinct labour market zones, which are dynamic agglomerations, industrial transition zones, and peripheral lagging. The data confirms that the “triple trap” is clearly experienced by the peripheral regions, with lower educational attainment, high exposure to automation impacting nearly 50%, and mobility constraints keeping the workforce bound to local public works employment. These results provide evidence that labor market polarization is a self-reinforcing spatial process. It implies that successful policy interventions should be comprehensive, addressing the interrelated elements of transport infrastructure, skill development, and regional economic diversification in one stroke to break the vicious circle of immobility. Full article

The teaching profession increasingly demands complex competencies, including collaboration, professional networking, and adaptability, beyond subject-specific knowledge, due to rapid educational, technological, and labor market changes. This study addresses the limited national data on the professional relational capital of teacher education students and examines how relational networks affect professional identity, commitment, and retention. A pilot questionnaire was developed from focus group interviews conducted in spring 2024 at the University of Nyíregyháza and analyzed with ATLAS.ti 7. The instrument includes four dimensions: parental influence, initiative during high school, initiative during university, and future employment plans, with indicators such as place of residence, cooperation patterns, network durability, domestic and international collaborations, and professional aspirations. Results indicate that students’ relational networks are central to early professional socialization and engagement in collaborative teaching communities. Mapping these networks offers diagnostic and developmental insights, supporting targeted mentoring, inter-institutional cooperation, and international mobility. Findings suggest that deliberately developing relational capital during teacher training enhances professional preparedness, satisfaction, and retention. Overall, the study highlights the value of integrating professional networking and collaborative competencies into teacher education to promote sustainable career paths, align training with labor market expectations, and strengthen the quality, resilience, and long-term sustainability of the teaching workforce. Full article

Background/Objectives: The global nursing workforce shortage has heightened concerns about burnout, workload, and nurse retention, with an increasing intention to leave the profession and the unit, especially in the post-pandemic context. Although intention to leave has been widely studied, limited attention has been paid to nurses who continue to provide high-quality care and persist despite expressing a desire to leave. This study aimed to explore the reasons for persistence among nurses who intend to leave the organization and the profession. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was conducted involving frontline nurses and nurse managers working in a large university healthcare trust in Northern Italy. Data were collected through three focus groups, using a semi-structured interview, until data saturation was achieved. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Findings were reported in accordance with COnsolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative research guidelines. Results: Thirty-two participants were included. Overall, two main themes emerged: ‘Reasons that are inside of me’ and ‘Reasons that are outside of me but influence my decisions to stay’, with eight and six subthemes respectively. Internal reasons included professional passion, commitment, autonomy, perceived usefulness, and supportive collegial relationships. External reasons included organizational flexibility, opportunities for internal mobility and professional development, responsiveness to nurses’ expectations, and, in some cases, limited external employment alternatives. Conclusions: Persistence represents a distinct and underexplored dimension within the intention-to-leave continuum. While internal reasons reflect deeply rooted professional identity, external organizational reasons are modifiable and play a critical role in promoting retention. Organizational strategies aligned with nurses’ values, expectations, and professional development needs may enhance workforce stability and inform more targeted retention interventions. Full article

Clinical diagnostic laboratories continue to face growing pressure from rising test volumes, increasingly complex testing menus, significant workforce shortages, and expectations for faster turnaround times at sustainable cost. Total laboratory automation (TLA) has become a central strategy for improving efficiency in high-volume laboratories, where integrated systems from Abbott, Roche, Siemens Healthineers, and Beckman Coulter have demonstrated substantial reductions in turnaround time, error rates, and labor requirements. Evidence across multiple health systems shows that TLA improves performance and stabilizes laboratory operations even during workload peaks. Despite these gains, large segments of pre-analytical and post-analytical workflows remain manual, especially tasks related to specimen transportation, bench-level manipulation, instrument tending, and troubleshooting. Recent progress in collaborative robotics (cobots), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), and hospital service robots demonstrates that these technologies can complement TLA by addressing not only the logistical and dexterous tasks that fixed automation lines cannot reach but also enabling robots that can work safely right alongside humans in a shared space. Cobots have shown sub-millimeter precision in colony picking and other fine-motor tasks, though typically at lower throughputs than dedicated track modules, and AMRs have demonstrated reliable transport of pathology carts and medical supplies through large clinical environments. Meanwhile, humanoid-capable mobile manipulators, like Moxi from Diligent Robotics, deployed in hospitals are already completing hundreds of thousands of supply deliveries, indicating real-world significance. Here, we integrate technical, regulatory, operational, and business perspectives on TLA, collaborative robotics, and mobile platforms. We discuss real-world efficiency gains, regulatory expectations under the CLIA and United States FDA, and the emerging case for hybrid automation ecosystems that combine TLA islands, cobotic workcells, AMRs, and AI-enabled orchestration. We argue that the next decade of laboratory automation will move beyond monolithic tracks with robots toward flexible, modular robotic systems designed to operate safely together with humans and to augment the increasingly strained laboratory workforce. This not only allows clinical staff to dedicate more time to patient care but also ensures greater reliability and scalability for essential services throughout demanding hospital environments. Full article

Pharmacy-based point-of-care (POC) services have evolved from pilot initiatives to an essential component of decentralized healthcare delivery. These services—ranging from rapid infectious-disease screening to chronic-disease monitoring—improve access, reduce diagnostic delays and empower pharmacists as front-line healthcare providers. The present paper is an updated, in-depth review of the evolution of pharmacy POC services worldwide, combined with the analysis of the regulatory and educational frameworks supporting implementation, technological drivers such as biosensors, mobile health and artificial intelligence and in-depth socioeconomic considerations. Benefits for patients, pharmacies and healthcare systems are contrasted with challenges including variable reimbursement, uneven regulatory oversight and workforce preparedness. Full article

This study investigates the deep-seated impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Macao, a mono-economy extremely dependent on the single factor of “tourism mobility”. We investigate a counter-intuitive phenomenon observed during the 2020–2022 shock: the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) declined significantly, suggesting “apparent diversification”. Using counterfactual simulations and a Two-Way Fixed Effects (TWFE) model, we quantitatively deconstruct this “resilience illusion”. The results confirm that the decline in the HHI was driven entirely by the “denominator effect” triggered by the collapse of the dominant industry’s (gaming) GVA; if the impact of this recession is excluded, the Counterfactual HHI was even higher than pre-pandemic levels, indicating that the structure did not undergo substantive optimization. Furthermore, inferential statistical tests confirmed the existence of significant “structural lag” in the labor market. This study further reveals a dual divergence mechanism based on “skill specificity”: in sectors with high skill universality (e.g., transport and catering), a structural shift toward “workforce casualization” occurred, manifested by a significant decline in the full-time ratio; conversely, in sectors with strong skill specificity (e.g., gaming and hospitality), firms tended toward “labor hoarding”. This study exposes the macro-indicator trap faced by tourism mono-economies under extreme shocks and provides new micro-evidence for understanding the heterogeneous scars in the service labor market. Full article

The migration of Ethiopian women to the Middle East has primarily been studied in connection with domestic labour and the related vulnerabilities. Due to assumptions about the low educational levels of women entering this sector, as well as the precarity and temporality the sector entails, opportunities for social mobility have been largely overlooked. This article examines changes in Ethiopian women’s labour market participation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It demonstrates that, over time, women who enter the workforce as maids may transition into better-paid work or establish their own business ventures. It further depicts an evolving pattern of well-educated Ethiopian women entering the skilled labour market. Based on ethnographic findings from the UAE, the article offers a critical re-engagement with prevailing narratives of victimhood and severely restricted social mobility opportunities. Drawing on recent conceptualisations of mobilities, trajectories, and temporalities, the article critiques the tendency to portray Ethiopian female migrants as a homogeneous group with similar paths, thereby concealing the diversity of their experiences. Second, it questions the essentialization of women migrant workers as passive victims. By highlighting developments in women’s aspirations and agency over time, the article contributes new knowledge on the potential for social mobility within transnational labour markets. Full article

Rising global population, socioeconomic development, industrialisation, lifestyle changes, mobility, and transportation all depend on fossil fuels. This reliance creates environmental pollution, CO₂ emissions, depletion of fossil fuel resources, energy insecurity, and increased financial and environmental costs. Renewable energy sources, especially wind, provide a viable alternative to fossil fuels, decreasing reliance on them and mitigating environmental impacts. Despite considerable advances in the use of renewable wind energy for power generation, significant challenges persist in realising the full potential of this promising energy source. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to thoroughly examine global wind power generation, its distribution by region, and the challenges associated with using wind energy, such as issues with the global supply chain, equipment manufacturers, rare earth materials required for wind turbines, and a lack of skilled workforces in the wind energy sector. The major finding and novelty of the study includes a national action plan for wind power generation that encompasses diverse tasks and activities, which can be tailored to the specific requirements of a country. Additionally, the study proposed a classification of countries into six groups based on the availability of specific energy types within their national jurisdictions, aiming for an optimal energy mix to achieve energy security, sustainability, and climate impact mitigation. The other contribution of the study is outlining present difficulties, their origins, and potential solutions that governments, legislators, and other wind power stakeholders encounter while formulating strategies for wind power generation. Full article

The World Health Organization’s Bangkok Declaration, ‘No health without oral health,’ recognizes oral health as a global public health priority. Despite being largely preventable, oral diseases affect nearly half of the global population, and India mirrors this crisis while facing persistent systemic challenges. This qualitative study explores India’s oral healthcare landscape from the perspective of public health dentists to inform context-sensitive reforms. Thirty-one in-depth interviews were conducted with public health dentists from dental colleges registered with the Dental Council of India, recruited across six regions. Interviews were conducted online via MS Teams using a piloted interview guide and video-recorded with consent. Subsequently, the interviews were transcribed verbatim, anonymized, and qualitative data was analyzed using Atlas.ti, following reflexive thematic analysis. Analysis yielded four main themes: facets of oral health inequalities, dental public health initiatives, strategies to mobilize and optimize dental workforce in rural areas, and recommendations to optimize oral healthcare. This study offers contextually grounded yet globally relevant perspectives on oral health reform. By bridging local insights with international priorities, this study proposes a sustainable, equity-driven framework for transforming oral health systems while laying the foundation for future research and policy action aimed at achieving universal oral health coverage. Full article