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Call for Papers - Combatting Health Service Delays

Guest Editors:
Katherine Harding
(La Trobe University, Australia)
Alessandro Jatoba (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil)
Yafang Tsai (Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan)

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 30 September 2023


BMC Health Services Research is calling for submissions to our Collection on Combatting health service delays.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed enormous pressures on the health service, and has exacerbated existing delays. In many countries, elective care was suspended, and routine referrals were reduced or stopped. As a result, many health systems are experiencing delays. Extended waiting times negatively impact patients' health and affect their quality of life. They also lengthen recovery time after surgery.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Katherine Harding, La Trobe University, Australia

Katherine Harding is a Principal Research Fellow with La Trobe University, and Manager of the Allied Health Clinical Research Office at Eastern Health, one of the largest providers of public health services Melbourne, Australia. She has research interests in health services research and implementation science, with a particular focus on evidence based approaches for managing demand and reducing waiting time for community and outpatient services. 


Alessandro Jatoba, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil

Alessandro Jatoba is a professor and research lead at the Center for Strategic Studies of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil, where he leads the Group for Technology, Information, and Resilience in Public Health (ResiliSUS). He is also a professor of Resilience in Healthcare at the Fluminense Federal University. His research enables healthcare providers to draw solutions that encompass fair and sustainable policies, processes, and technologies applied to the management of resources and coordination of care to respond to current and emerging needs, especially in low and middle-income countries.


Yafang Tsai, Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan

Dr Yafang Tsai is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management of Chung Shan Medical University in Taiwan. Tsai got two PHD degrees, one in Health Policy and Management and the other in Management. Graduated from National Taiwan University and National Yunlin University of Science & Technology. Dr Tsai is primarily involved in health care management, healthcare marketing, organizational learning, and patient experience. She has published works in international journals, including Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Journal of Clinical Nursing, BMC Health Services Research, International Nursing Review, Industrial Marketing Management and so on. Dr Tsai has previously worked in the management department of a medical center in Taiwan.






About the collection

BMC Health Services Research is calling for submissions to our Collection on Combatting health service delays

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed enormous pressures on the health service, and has exacerbated existing delays. In many countries, elective care was suspended, and routine referrals were reduced or stopped. As a result, many health systems are experiencing delays. Extended waiting times negatively impact patients' health and affect their quality of life. They also lengthen recovery time after surgery.

In this collection, we welcome the submission of research articles that address delays in any part of the health care journey, from primary and community care through to emergency services and surgery. Analysis of eHealth, mHealth and digital initiatives to address delays will also be considered.


(Image credit: vm)

  1. Delayed access to outpatient care may negatively impact on health outcomes. We aimed to evaluate implementation of the Specific Timely Appointments for Triage (STAT) model of access in an epilepsy clinic to re...

    Authors: Annie K. Lewis, Nicholas F. Taylor, Patrick W. Carney, Xia Li and Katherine E. Harding
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:933
  2. Indigenous Australians experience significant socioeconomic disadvantage and healthcare disparity compared to non-Indigenous Australians. A retrospective cohort study to describe the association between rates ...

    Authors: Tim Cheok, Morgan Berman, Richard Delaney-Bindahneem, Matthew Phillip Jennings, Linda Bray, Ruurd Jaarsma, Pradeep Mathew Poonnoose, Kanishka Williams and Narlaka Jayasekera
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:874
  3. COVID-19 has disrupted maternal and child health services. Community Health Workers (CHWs) supported the women by visiting pregnant women's homes and providing the MCH services as required. This study attempts...

    Authors: Preeti Dhillon, Sayeed Unisa, Ajay Gupta, Abhishek Saraswat, Sulaiman KM and Sarang Pedgaonkar
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:864
  4. In Brazil, despite advances in public health policies aimed at eliminating and controlling infectious and parasitic diseases, the incidence of neglected diseases is still high. The epidemiological scenario in ...

    Authors: Glenda R. O. N. Ferreira, Amanda L. C. Miranda, Viviane A. Farias, Melissa B. Martins, Débora Talitha Neri, William D. Borges, Carlos Leonardo F. Cunha, Geyse Aline R. Dias, Dirceu C. Santos and Fabianne J. D. Sousa
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:825
  5. The COVID-19 pandemic caused delays in care-seeking due to fears of infection and decreased healthcare access globally. These delays have been linked in some countries to COVID-19 perceptions, decreased income...

    Authors: Natalie E. Conboy, Andre Nickow, John Koku Awoonor-Williams and Lisa R. Hirschhorn
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:785
  6. There is a serious shortage of clinical pharmacists in Xinjiang, China. A six-month to one-year on-the-job training programme can rapidly transition nonclinical pharmacists into clinical pharmacists to resolve...

    Authors: Tiantian Kong, Yuankai Huang, Xin Chen and Wenbing Yao
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:685
  7. In 2020, the Health Resources and Services Administration’s HIV/AIDS Bureau funded an initiative to promote implementation of rapid antiretroviral therapy initiation in 14 HIV treatment settings across the U.S...

    Authors: Beth Bourdeau, Starley B. Shade, Kimberly A. Koester, Greg M. Rebchook, Wayne T. Steward, Bruce M. Agins, Janet J. Myers, Son H. Phan and Marlene Matosky
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:503
  8. Timely diagnosis of oral cancers is critical, and performing biopsies of oral lesions with suspected malignancy is a crucial step in achieving this goal. The waiting time for the diagnosis may be related to th...

    Authors: Alessandro Diogo De-Carli, Amanda Ramos da Cunha, Gleyson Kleber do Amaral-Silva, Jader Vasconcelos, Mara Lisiane de Moraes dos Santos and Livia Fernandes Probst
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:461

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, SNAPP. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Combatting Health Service Delays" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published. 

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.