Food Safety Knowledge among Professional Food Handlers in Slovenia: The Results of a Nation-Wide Survey.

The authors present and discuss the results of a nation-wide survey on food safety knowledge among professional food handlers in Slovenia. The data were collected via a telephone survey using a well-established questionnaire adapted to the Slovenian context. Altogether, 601 respondents from hotels, restaurants, catering, and confectionery units completed the questionnaire. To assess food safety knowledge among food handlers in both general and specific domains, three indexes (a General Knowledge Index, a Personal Knowledge Index, and a Temperature Knowledge Index) were created. Among them, the Temperature Knowledge Index revealed the largest gaps in knowledge. An insufficient transfer of food safety knowledge from managers and chefs to assistant chefs and kitchen assistants in establishments where more persons handle food was evident, while a course titled "Hygiene Minimum" of standardised training from the past still significantly contributes to food safety knowledge. The results suggest a need for improvement in the current system of food safety training courses for professional food handlers in Slovenia. The human factor in the food supply chain still has a significant role in ensuring food safety culture, and therefore must become a more important part of the food safety management system.

Return to work among workers recovering from severe COVID-19 in Slovenia: a focus group study.

PURPOSE: For working age adults, return to work (RTW) after severe COVID-19 can be an essential component of rehabilitation. We explored the expectations and experiences related to RTW in a group of workers recovering from severe COVID-19 in Slovenia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four focus groups were conducted between May 2021 and August 2021. Fifteen men and three women, aged between 39 and 65 years, participated. We analysed data using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Four main themes were developed in the analysis, pertaining to (1) work identity, (2) challenges to work re-entry, (3) personal strengths and support systems, and (4) possible adaptations at work. The disruption of work triggered sentiments about its role in identity. Workers' personal agency and self-advocacy helped participants cope with various barriers that were beyond their control, such as physical limitations and lack of systematic routines to address RTW. Workers recovering from severe COVID-19 were at risk of developing negative expectations regarding their work re-entry. CONCLUSIONS: RTW after severe COVID-19 involves different personal, organizational and systemic dimensions that need to be considered and carefully aligned. Due to the individuality of the process, the worker should be involved as a key partner in the RTW process.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONLack of clinical pathways can negatively impact return to work (RTW) after severe COVID-19.RTW processes should start early but timely and include individual follow up.Patients expect the interdisciplinary team of experts to work together and involve them in all phases of decision-making regarding their rehabilitation and RTW process.Positive expectations regarding work re-entry are essential for the RTW process.

User involvement in Slovenian healthcare.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to report on current developments in user involvement in healthcare in Slovenia and to explore the issue from the macro-, mezzo- and micro-levels. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: User involvement is first contextualised within history of the organisation of healthcare system, from its socialist past through to its post-transitional developments. Second, user involvement is tracked through an analysis of healthcare policies and legislation as well as at its institutional and organisational levels. Finally, user involvement practices are illustrated from the perspective of individual patients. A descriptive and exploratory case study design was employed, including a literature review, document analysis and qualitative thematic analysis of nine in-depth and four semi-structured interviews. FINDINGS: The findings reveal a complex and at times ambivalent picture in which user involvement is still not firmly embedded into the healthcare system, despite being generally accepted. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: No systematic qualitative research of patient involvement in Slovenia has previously been published. This research will establish a basis for further investigations of the topic.

A comparative study of contemporary user involvement within healthcare systems across England, Poland and Slovenia.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to explore how healthcare-users' engagement is perceived, how it occurs and how these perceptions differ between three European countries: England, Poland and Slovenia, using the concepts of voice, choice and coproduction. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This comparative, qualitative study is based on a review of legal documents, academic literature and semi-structured interviews conducted in October and November 2011. A research sample consisted of 21 interviewees representing various stakeholders including healthcare-users, doctors and managers. Primary and secondary data were analysed using theoretical thematic analysis. Emerging themes were identified from the interviews and related to the indicators describing healthcare-users' involvement in the voice, choice and coproduction model. FINDINGS: Results of the comparative qualitative research suggest that the healthcare-users' influence is strongly grounded in England where the healthcare system and professionals are prepared to include healthcare-users in the decision-making process. In Slovenia, cultural development of healthcare-users' involvement seems to proceed the institutional development. In Poland, institutions are ready to involve healthcare-users in decision-making process although the cultural desirability of involving users among doctors and patients is lacking. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The notion of user involvement is increasingly gaining importance and research attention, yet there is still little known about the way cultural, political, historical differences between various European countries influence it. This paper explores this little known area using the original approach of user involvement (Dent et al., 2011) with input from various stakeholders including patients, healthcare representatives and academics.