RESEARCH ARTICLE
Portuguese Health System, an Overview and a SWOT Review
Aida Isabel Tavares*
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2016Volume: 9
First Page: 16
Last Page: 30
Publisher ID: TOPHJ-9-16
DOI: 10.2174/1874944501609010016
Article History:
Received Date: 11/02/2016Revision Received Date: 27/04/2016
Acceptance Date: 24/05/2016
Electronic publication date: 15/07/2016
Collection year: 2016

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode), which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Purpose:
The aim of this work is to describe the Portuguese health system and to provide a SWOT approach of its present situation. In this way, a clear and simplified picture of the health system can be offered and some strategies are proposed to improve the functioning of the health system.
Design/Methodology/Approach:
The methodology used is descriptive, based on a literature review structured by SWOT tools and the WHO definition of a health system, and it is applied to Portugal.
Findings:
The strengths and weaknesses in the Portuguese health system are several and varied, and there are some threats and opportunities, too. The improvement of the Portuguese health system and Portuguese health population will have to consider the facts observed here.
Originality/Value:
This work contributes to the better understanding about the current situation of the Portuguese health system.