BACKGROUND: Managing fibromyalgia is a challenge for both health care systems and the professionals caring for these patients, due, in part, to the fact that the etiology of this disease is unknown, its symptoms are not specific and there is no standardized treatment.OBJECTIVE: The present study examines three aspects of fibromyalgia management, namely diagnostic approach, therapeutic management and the health professional‐patient relationship, to explore specific areas of the health care process that professionals and patients may consider unsatisfactory.METHODS: A qualitative study involving semistructured interviews with 12 fibromyalgia patients and nine health professionals was performed.RESULTS: The most commonly recurring theme was the dissatisfaction of both patients and professionals with the management process as a whole. Both groups expressed dissatisfaction with the delay in reaching a diagnosis and obtaining effective treatment. Patients reported the need for greater moral support from professionals, whereas the latter often felt frustrated and of little help to patients. Patients and professionals agreed on one point: the uncertainty surrounding the management of fibromyalgia and, especially, its etiology.CONCLUSION: The present study contributes to a better understanding regarding why current management of fibromyalgia is neither effective nor satisfactory. It also provides insight into how health professionals can support fibromyalgia patients to achieve beneficial results. Health care services should offer greater support for these patients in the form of specific resources such as fibromyalgia clinics and health professionals with increased awareness of the disease.

To identify in the international scientific literature the obstacles and potential promoters for the advancement of women academics and researchers in biomedical sciences during their professional careers. PubMed, Scopus, CinahlPlus, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, PsycInfo and Sociological Abstracts were systematically searched for articles published in English and Spanish between January 2006 and December 2016 on the phenomenon of the glass ceiling in women academics and researchers in biomedical sciences. The screening was carried out by independent reviewers. A total of 2254 studies were found, of which 23 were included in the review. The obstacles identified for the promotion of women academics and/or researchers in biomedical sciences are: gender bias in the evaluation of research results, individualism and lack of collaboration, women's lack of influence, the existence of gender inequalities in access to employment. The perception of sexism and discrimination in the work environment, and the difficulties in reconciling work and family life. The promoting elements are: examples of women in leadership positions, mentoring, facilitating conciliation, transparency in recruitment, participation in decision-making, gender assessment of research, awareness of gender inequalities in institutions, promoting collaboration, and pay equity. By enhancing the elements favouring the promotion of academic women in biomedical sciences would help to reduce the glass ceiling in the career paths of women academics and health science researchers by increasing their participation, leadership and representation. A change of organizational and institutional values is required to achieve this.

Purpose: The aim of this study is twofold: (1) to explore health service providers’ perceptions regarding fibromyalgia patients in Spain and (2) to analyze possible consequences of these perceptions in terms of how health service providers construct the disease and treat their patients. Design: Qualitative study. Subjects/Patients: Twelve health service providers (eight men, four women) involved in the care of fibromyalgia patients. Providers were from different disciplines and included general practitioners, rheumatologists, occupational doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, physiotherapists and behavioral specialists from Spain. Method: We performed individual semistructured interviews, which were recorded and transcribed to conduct a qualitative content analysis supported by Atlas.ti-7. Results: We identified three categories from the interviews: (1) the fibromyalgia patient prototype: the complaining woman, (2) fibromyalgia is considered a women’s health issue, but male patients are a privileged minority, and (3) health professionals’ attitudes toward fibromyalgia patients: are they really suffering or pretending? Conclusion: The uncertainty surrounding fibromyalgia together with the fact that those affected are primarily women, seem to influence professional practice in terms of lack of recognition of Fibromyalgia as a severe disease. Increased training of all health professionals is essential to improving the support and attention given to patients suffering from fibromyalgia.

To determine the levels of job satisfaction and burnout syndrome and related factors among nurses in three Spanish regions. The nursing profession involves high work stress due to emotional involvement, workload, and available resources. Descriptive multicentre cross-sectional study. Sociodemographic and migration data were collected and participants completed the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire S20/23 and Maslach Burnout Inventory. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistical methods using the program SPSS. The sample included 228 nurses (187 women and 41 men,), with a mean age of 37.11±10.87. Reported job satisfaction was medium-high. Overall values were low in emotional fatigue and medium in depersonalization and personal fulfillment. In terms of migration, 21.59% of the participants had already moved to other Spanish regions or another country, while 18.58% had the intention of doing so. Nurses with a temporary contract showed a high burnout rate, and high levels of emotional fatigue, depersonalization, and lack of personal fulfillment. Strategies are needed to improve working and contractual conditions -such as enhancing teamwork, management, and leadership skills in nurses-, achieving internal promotion, having higher participation in decision-making, and a better balance of power between health institution managers and health professionals.

Background: Fibromyalgia is a painful chronic disease, suffered mainly by women, that consolidates a number of symptoms and skeletal muscle issues which are little understood. Objectives: To explore the social construction of FM from the perspective of health policies, patients, and health professionals involved in their medical attention. Methods: I) Policy review of national and regional health plans in a national and international context, the clinical protocols for fibromyalgia in Spain, and the Parliamentary initials in the European and Spanish context; and ii) Qualitative study involving 28 personal interviews with 16 fibromyalgia patients and 12 interviews with health care professionals in Spain. Results: The findings show that in Spain, the fact that fibromyalgia lacks recognition still remains: in policies, in the clinical and professional fields, and in the patients’ social circle. International health policy has not yet taken steps to reflect the emergence of this recently diagnosed disease. The care for patients suffering from fibromyalgia, who are mainly women, leads to frustration among the healthcare professionals and desperation among the patients themselves, as a resolutive treatment for the disease is not existing. Patients show resistance at assuming the sick role. They want to carry on undertaking their daily activities, both in the public sphere and in the private one. Roles involving the gendered division of labour were found to follow a rigid pattern, both prior to and subsequent to the disease, as the causes that led to frustration for men or women differ according to activities that are socially assigned to them. In practice, FM is conceived exclusively as a women’s health problem, which may result in a gender-biased patient healthcare attention. Conclusion: Political, professional and individual spheres have an influence on how this disease is constructed on a social level: as one of the “invisible women’s diseases”. It is recommended to resolve the disease’s lack of recognition by i) implementing specific policies for FM and ii) increasing the training and sensitization of health providers about the severity of FM and the existence of gender prejudices biasing the attention.