Boundary-work of primary care physicians using telemedicine technologies for communication.

Implementing telemedicine technologies (TT) for patient-physician communication leads to the emergence of new structures of boundaries. Hence, boundary work theory can provide a useful lens for examining how primary care physicians (PCPs) experience TT. The objective of this research was to examine the experiences of PCPs in using TT in their communication with patients.

Telemedicine and time management in primary care.

Background: Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can enable workers to structure work in novel ways, allow for better time management, and increase work scheduling autonomy. Time management and work scheduling are important factors in the field of clinical practice in primary care. Time limits on consultation are a key constraint on the delivery of good care since the length of patient-physician consultation impacts its quality.

Telemedicine and patient-centered care: The perspective of primary-care physicians.

Patient-centered care (PCC) has become a central aim for healthcare systems worldwide due to recognition of its advantages. The growing use of telemedicine technologies (TT) raises concerns of diminishing interpersonal contact, especially in primary care, and questions the appropriate way of implementing PCC. This article aims to explore primary-care physicians' (PCP) experiences of PCC when using TT.

Layers of senses: Experiencing intercorporeality in teletherapy.

Teletherapy, namely, therapy that uses technology for communication between patients and therapists, is challenged by the impersonal nature of remote and digital communication. Using Merleau-Ponty's theoretical concept of intercorporeality, which refers to the perceived reciprocity between two people's bodies during communication, this article aims to elaborate on spiritual caregivers' experience of interacting with patients during teletherapy. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 Israeli spiritual caregivers who use various forms of teletherapy (Zoom, FaceTime, phone calls, WhatsApp messages, etc.

Information gaps in persuasion knowledge: The discourse regarding the Covid-19 vaccination.

Persuasion knowledge is personal knowledge about persuasion attempts that has an effect on the way people respond to these attempts. Persuasion attempts are made to effectively handling the Covid-19 pandemic, which is dependent on high public compliance with vaccination programs. Drawing on the idea of persuasion knowledge, we aimed at elaborating the various categories of perceived information gaps experienced by vaccine hesitants during the Covid-19 vaccination campaign.

Vaccinated kindergartens: A community-based bottom-up initiative addressing vaccine hesitancy in Israel.

Background: Vaccine hesitancy (VH) has grown over recent decades. While most of the strategies implemented to cope with VH are top-down interventions, the present article focuses on a unique community-based bottom-up initiative conducted in Israel: Mehusgan-the vaccinated kindergarten.

Objective: The objective of the study was to learn about the vaccinated kindergarten initiative: its implementation, benefits, and challenges as well as its broader potential impact.

Non-Vaccination Stage Model (NVST): The decision-making process among Israeli ultra-orthodox Jewish parents.

Although vaccination uptake is high in most countries, pockets of suboptimal coverage remain, such as those observed among ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel and elsewhere, posing a threat to both individual and public immunity. Drawing on the Precaution Adoption Process Model (PAPM), this study proposes a Non-Vaccination Stage Model (NVSM) to analyze the decision-making process among Non-Vaccinating Parents (NVPs), focusing on the ultra-orthodox Jewish population of Israel. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 Israeli ultra-orthodox Jewish NVPs (mothers).

"I Took the Trouble to Make Inquiries, So I Refuse to Accept Your Instructions": Religious Authority and Vaccine Hesitancy Among Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Mothers in Israel.

Voluminous scholarship has shown that religious leaders play an important role in helping patients cope with health issues. There is, however, little research on the impact of religious leaders on parents' decision-making processes pertaining to childhood vaccination. Ultra-orthodox Jewish religious leaders (rabbis) are considered authorities on health issues, and most of them encourage parents to vaccinate their children.

Experiences of Jewish and Arab Healthcare Practitioners Treating Terrorists in Israel.

The growing number of terror attacks worldwide draws attention to the difficulties that healthcare practitioners experience when they treat terrorists or suspected terrorists. Research literature on the challenges faced by healthcare practitioners treating terrorists in conflict areas is limited. In-depth interviews were conducted during 2016-2017 with 50 Jewish and Arab healthcare practitioners (managers, physicians, and nurses) employed in 11 public hospitals in Israel, who treat Palestinian terrorists and security prisoners, in the context of a prolonged and violent national conflict.

Language practice and policy in Israeli hospitals: the case of the Hebrew and Arabic languages.

Background: Organizational language practice and policy are not neutral elements but reflect social and political power relations. The micro-level of working groups is subject to the influence of political conflicts and power relations at the macro-level. In conflict zones in particular, these involve complex considerations.

Preferring patient-physician concordance: the ambiguity of implicit ethnic bias.

Background: Much of the current literature on racial/ethnic bias in healthcare focuses on practitioners' implicit biased attitudes regarding patients, identifying it as a factor contributing to health disparities. Little attention has been paid, however, to patients' bias against practitioners from other ethnic group.

Aim: To explore patients' bias towards practitioners from other ethnic group.

Patient demands for ethnic-based separation in public hospitals in Israel: patients' and practitioners' perspectives.

Background: Segregation within the healthcare system is commonly associated with disparities in the utilization of health services and in the outcomes of medical care. In Israel, the Jewish majority and the Arab minority populations are treated in the same healthcare organizations. Nevertheless, demands for ethnic separation in inpatient rooms are raised at times by patients, despite the principle of prohibiting discrimination between patients on the grounds of religion, race, sex and nationality.

The Secret Drama at the Patient's Bedside-Refusal of Treatment Because of the Practitioner's Ethnic Identity: The Medical Staff 's Point of View.

Patients' refusal of treatment based on the practitioner's ethnic identity reveals a clash of values: neutrality in medicine versus patient-centered care. Taking the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into account, this article aims at examining Israeli health care professionals' points of view concerning patients' refusal of treatment because of a practitioner's ethnic identity. Fifty in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 managers and 40 health care professionals, Jewish and Arab, employed at 11 public hospitals.

Tensions and Coping Strategies in Ethnically Mixed Teams: Findings from a Study in Two Emergency Departments.

Diversity of the workforce in healthcare facilities, representative of the general population's ethnic/racial composition, is an important health priority. Nevertheless, this diversity may generate tensions. The objective of the study was to assess tensions and coping strategies among ethnic minority and majority healthcare workers.

Race-based experiences of ethnic minority health professionals: Arab physicians and nurses in Israeli public healthcare organizations.

Unlabelled: Increasing workforce diversity was found to contribute to the narrowing of disparities in health. However, racism toward ethnic minority health professionals has not been adequately researched. In Israel, public healthcare organizations that serve a mixed Jewish-Arab population employ Arab minority healthcare professionals.

Neutrality in medicine and health professionals from ethnic minority groups: The case of Arab health professionals in Israel.

The ethos of neutrality dominates biomedicine. It has, however, been criticized for leading to a disregard for diversity in medicine. In this article we employ the 'inclusion and difference' approach to gain an understanding of why the ethos of neutrality, on the one hand, and tensions associated with race/ethnicity, on the other, are relevant to the work of ethnic minority health professionals.

Work experiences of ethnic minority nurses: a qualitative study.

Background: Recruitment and retention of a diverse ethnic workforce in healthcare settings contribute to the provision of culturally competent care in multicultural contexts. Nevertheless, the work experiences of ethnic minority nurses, which impact the attractiveness of the occupation, job burnout and turnover intentions, are not well understood. The present exploratory research seeks to examine the work experiences of ethnic minority Arab nurses in Israeli public hospitals.

Exceptional patients and communication in cancer care-are we missing another survival factor?

Objective: There is increased awareness of the issue of exceptional survival beyond expectations among cancer patients with poor prognosis, and researchers are starting to look closely at this phenomenon. In this study, we explored the perceptions of these "exceptional patients" as to their understanding and insight into their unusual experience.

Methods: We used a qualitative approach consisting of in-depth, open-ended interviews with exceptional patients in two locations, Texas and Israel, from 2007 to 2014.

Communication and integration: a qualitative analysis of perspectives among Middle Eastern oncology healthcare professionals on the integration of complementary medicine in supportive cancer care.

Context And Objectives: The use of complementary and traditional medicine (CTM ) in Middle Eastern countries is widespread, including among patients with cancer. Perspectives of oncology healthcare professionals (HCPs) in this region regarding the integration of CTM within conventional supportive cancer care were explored.

Methods: An 11-item questionnaire with an open-ended question asking respondents to comment about the integration of CTM within supportive cancer care was sent to Middle Eastern oncology HCPs, using snowball sampling methodology.

Increasing gender and ethnic diversity in the health care workforce: The case of Arab male nurses in Israel.

Background: Despite recent attempts at increasing health care workforce diversity, a measure that was found to reduce health disparities, men remain a minority in the traditionally female occupation of nursing. One exception to this observation is the Arab ethnic minority in Israel that includes numerous male nurses.

Objective: Determining the percentage of Arab male nurses in the Israeli health care system and understanding how they perceive and negotiate their masculinity.

"It's Every Family's Dream": Choice of a Medical Career Among the Arab Minority in Israel.

Application to medical studies and the choice of medicine as a career are influenced by many factors, some internal (academic ability, intellectual curiosity, interests) and some external (parental pressure, peer pressure, teacher and school expectations). Ethnicity plays a role in motivational orientation and belonging to an ethnic minority group may influence both internal and external motives and priorities in choosing medicine as a career. In this article, we present a qualitative study of the motives that impel Arab physicians in Israel to choose a medical career.

Living outliers: experiences, insights and narratives of exceptional survivors of incurable cancer.

Aim: Unexplained prolonged survival given a diagnosis of incurable advanced cancer is a puzzling phenomenon that recently has attracted more scientific research. The purpose of this study was to add to the understanding of how exceptional patients perceive and explain their unusual experience.

Methods: We recruited patients for interviews from a population registry, patients with advanced lung or pancreatic malignancy who experienced exceptional survival.

Intersectionality and underrepresentation among health care workforce: the case of Arab physicians in Israel.

Background: An intersectionality approach that addresses the non-additive influences of social categories and power structures, such as gender and ethnicity, is used as a research paradigm to further understanding the complexity of health inequities. While most researchers adopt an intersectionality approach to study patients' health status, in this article we exemplify its usefulness and importance for studying underrepresentation in the health care workforce. Our research objectives were to examine gender patterns of underrepresentation in the medical profession among the Arab minority in Israel.