Evidence of the health-promoting influence of primary care has been accumulating ever since researchers have been able to distinguish primary care from other aspects of the health services delivery system. This evidence shows that primary care helps prevent illness and death, regardless of whether the care is characterized by supply of primary care physicians, a relationship with a source of pr...

Seven years after the publication of two seminal reports by the Institute of Medicine, To Err Is Human (IOM, 2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (IOM, 2001), which documented uneven quality, dangers, and inconsistencies in health care delivery, a majority of the nation’s health care providers are still struggling with those same challenges. Simultaneously, a backlash against the managed-care s...

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) capture how patients perceive their health and their health care; their use in clinical research is longstanding. Today, however, PROs increasingly are being used to inform the care of individual patients, and document the performance of health care entities. We recently wrote and internally distributed an institutional position statement titled "Harmonizing and...

As healthcare delivery systems and technology continue to evolve, the role and responsibilities of the medical dosimetrist need to be delineated. The Scope and Standards of Medical Dosimetry Practice is design to provide a statement of competence in medical practice; define the practice of medical dosimetry; and provide a useful guide for medical dosimetrists and others in evaluating the qualit...

The number of people seeking refugee status in Ireland is increasing year on year and the burden of mental illness experienced by refugees and asylum seekers is high. The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland has recommended the establishment of a number of specialist refugee mental health teams. In this paper we discuss the Irish asylum system, the Irish evidence regarding mental illness in this...

BACKGROUND Patient-centeredness is necessary for quality of care. Wide-spread incorporation of patient-centered practices across the health system is challenging in low and middle income countries (LMICs) given the complexity of scarce resources, competing priorities and rapidly changing social, economic and political landscapes. Health service managers and policy makers in these settings would...

This introduction to the evaluation component of the Circles of Care initiative includes background on the nature of the initiative, Center for Mental Health Services support for developing systems of care for youth with emotional disturbances, and an overview of the systems of care approach. The prevalence, unique challenges, and the historical, political, and cultural context of health care d...

It is with great pleasure that I greet you at the start of the New Year. I wish you and your families’ health, happiness and prosperity for 2010. The Association of Surgeons of India has always believed in serving the society that we live in. A few years from now, I expect the Association to be much bigger than it is now. More importantly, I hope that it comes to be regarded as being trend-sett...

James H. Thrall, MD Teleradiology—the ability to obtain images in one location, transmit them over a distance, and view them remotely for diagnostic or consultative purposes—has been explored for nearly 50 years and is part of the more encompassing concept of “telemedicine”—the delivery of health care services over a distance. Major advances in telecommunications and computer systems and advanc...

The need and demand for the highest-quality management of all health care delivery activities requires a participative management approach. The purpose with this article is to explore the process of participative management, to generate and describe a model for such management, focusing mainly on the process of participative management, and to formulate guidelines for operationalization of the ...