in 2014, a series of reforms, called as the health sector evolution plan (hsep), was launched in the health system of iran in a stepwise process. hsep was mainly based on the fifth 5-year health development national strategies (2011-2016). it included different interventions to: increase population coverage of basic health insurance, increase quality of care in the ministry of health and medica...

Though improvements in infant and maternal mortality rates have occurred over time, women and children still die every hour from preventable causes. Various regional, social and economic factors are involved in the ability of women and children to receive adequate care and prevention services. Patient-held maternal and/or child health records have been used for a number of years in many countri...

BACKGROUND Development of managed care, characterized by limited provider choice, is believed to undermine trust. Provider choice has been identified as strongly associated with physician trust. Stakeholders in a competitive healthcare market have competing agendas related to choice. The purpose of this study is to analyze variables associated with consumer's satisfaction that they have enough ...

BACKGROUND Research on gay and other men who have sex with men's (G/MSM) preferences for sexual healthcare services focuses largely on HIV testing and to some extent on sexually transmitted infections (STI). This research illustrates the frequency and location of where G/MSM interface with the healthcare system, but it does not speak to why men seek care in those locations. As HIV and STI preve...

BACKGROUND Direct-to-consumer (DTC) telemedicine providers has the potential to change the traditional patient-physician relationship. Professional medical organizations recommend that telemedicine exist within the medical home. This study aims to understand patients' preferences and desires for DTC telemedicine. METHODS We conducted a nationwide survey of 4345 survey respondents demographica...

The overall burden of illness from diseases for which vaccines are available disproportionately falls on adults. Adults are recommended to receive vaccinations based on their age, underlying medical conditions, lifestyle, prior vaccinations, and other considerations. Updated vaccine recommendations from CDC are published annually in the U.S. Adult Immunization Schedule. Vaccine use among U.S. a...

Purpose: Selecting a healthcare provider is often a complicated process. Many factors appear to govern the decision as to how to select the provider in the patient-provider relationship. While the possibility of changing primary care physicians or specialists exists, decisions regarding surgeons are immutable once surgery has been performed. This study is an attempt to assess the importance att...

BACKGROUND Managing cancer in a multicultural environment poses several challenges, which include the communication between the patient and the healthcare provider. Culture is an important consideration in clinical care as it contributes to shaping patients' health-related values, beliefs, and behaviours. This integrative literature review gathered evidence on how culturally competent patient-p...

The provision of quality healthcare is an international mandate. The provision of quality healthcare for mental health patients poses unique challenges. Nowhere is this challenge greater than in the emergency department. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe evidence-based initiatives for improving the quality of care of mental health patients in the emergency department. Specifically, ...

I am sure you’ve heard about the triple aim introduced by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement —improving patient experience, reducing cost, and improving the health of a population. I recently discovered that this is being reconsidered, in light of a crucial missing piece – the people who actually are responsible for the patient experience and healthcare. Now conceptualized as the quadrupl...