Open AccessIntegrated Care for Seniors as a Challenge for Slovakia
Author(s) -
Michaela Vaceková,
AUTHOR_ID,
Jana Levická,
AUTHOR_ID
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
lumen proceedings
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
eISSN - 2601-2529
pISSN - 2601-2510
DOI - 10.18662/wlc2021/70
Subject(s) - legislature , politics , health care , quality (philosophy) , social care , public relations , covid-19 , pandemic , political science , field (mathematics) , state (computer science) , psychology , nursing , medicine , computer science , philosophy , disease , mathematics , epistemology , pathology , algorithm , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pure mathematics , law
Older age can be accompanied by a lot of changes in the field of health, which influence the social functioning of seniors.One of the factors influencing the quality of life of seniors is the connection of healthcare and social care, built on the interdepartmental cooperation. This approach is still absent in Slovakia.The aim of the paper is therefore to emphasize the importance and need of integrated care and to describe the barriers that prevent its implementation in Slovakia. In search of answers to the questions: “When and why was the healthcare and social care department of seniors established in Slovakia? What are the reasons persisting in this condition? What are the consequences of this divided care for the seniors in practice? What strategies use facilities for seniors to overcome this situation during the COVID-19 pandemic?” the authors used the method of the case study (Yin, 2003) focused on the Trnava self-governing region. Persistent structural, procedural, legislative and political factors have been identified as the main barriers. Specific for Slovakia is the existence of a barrier of the profession, which is caused by the low interest of social workers in the issue. The authors state that the situation in Slovakia is caused mainly by the reflection of integrated care as a political problem. In the end, the authors make several suggestions for solving the situation.