Introduction With the 2001 publication of the Institute of Medicine’s Crossing the Quality Chasm Report, patient-centered care emerged as one of six key components of high quality health care in the United States. Partly in response to that report, health care organizations across the country have focused on developing and improving patientand family-centered approaches to the care they provide...

Introduction Quality in healthcare consists of two aspects. While technical quality primarily deals with accuracy of diagnosis and procedures and adherence to clinical protocols, service quality refers to the manner in which the healthcare services are delivered to patients. Since patients are often unable to accurately assess the technical quality of care, functional/service quality is usually...

In Brazil, the struggle to build an universal, accessible and quality health system can be mistaken at first for an effort to redemocratize of our country, and may be characterized by a resistance to the conservative movement regarding public policies of the last decade. In 1986, the most important health political event of the second half of the Twentieth Century occured: the VIII National Hea...

BACKGROUND Understanding immigrants' interactions with the United States (US) healthcare system will likely make it possible to meet their healthcare needs and improve their quality of life in the US. Although challenges to accessing and utilizing healthcare in the US have been identified, there is little information specific to Brazilian-born immigrants' experiences. Brazilians comprise a fast...

Addressing efforts towards the improvement of maternal and child health management can often prove to be problematic in context to successfully obtaining healthcare and medical treatment information from health care professionals. In this regard, the authors propose an adaptive multi-service system that contains fully integrated health care services, medical treatment services, and maternal and...

background and objectives: informal payment in the health settings is a significant challenge facing the health system, with consequences such as inequity in access to healthcare services, distrust to health care system, and dissatisfied customers. detailed identification of the nature of the problem is perquisite to developing relevant overcoming strategies. given that, this study aimed at pro...

People living in rural and remote communities often have among the greatest health needs but the most limited access to healthcare services, including specialist care. One solution for increasing access to specialist services is visiting-specialist services or specialist outreach clinics - that is, planned, regular visits by specialist physicians from their usual practice location to see patien...

BACKGROUND There is a trend towards value-based health service, striving to cut costs while generating value for the patient. The overall objective comprises higher-quality health services and improved patient safety and cost efficiency. The approach could align with patient-centred care, as it entails a focus on the patient's experience of her or his entire cycle of care, including the use of ...

BACKGROUND Trained healthcare workers are an essential resource for effective health systems. However, healthcare workers' perspective on healthcare, the challenges they face to provide quality health services, and opportunities to improve motivation and providing adequate care are rarely investigated in resource-constrained settings of sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS All reachable nurses of Abou...