background: family physician plan is known as one of the most appropriate strategies to implement rural health insurance program in the form of referral system in iran. this study aims to determine the satisfaction of family physicians and service consumers and its causes of dissatisfaction in the south of iran. materials and methods: this cross-sectional study was performed in kerman health ne...

health workforce shortages in sub-saharan africa are widely recognized, particularly of physicians, leading the training and deployment of non-physician clinicians (npcs). the paper by eyal et al provides interesting and legitimate viewpoints on evolving role of physicians in context of decisive increase of npcss in sub-saharan africa. certainly, in short or mid-term, npcs will continue to be a...

the changing demands on the health sectors in low- and middle-income countries especially sub-saharan african countries continue to challenge efforts to address critical shortages of the health workforce. addressing these challenges have led to the evolution of “non-physician clinicians” (npcs), that assume some physician roles and thus mitigate the continuing shortage of doctors in these count...

a decade ago, sub-saharan africa accounted for 24% of the global disease burden but was served by only 4% of the global health workforce. the chronic shortage of medical doctors has led other health professionals especially nurses to perform the role of healthcare providers. these health workers have been variously named clinical officers, health officers, physician assistants, nurse practition...

Physician assistants (PAs) have been used for decades in the Canadian military. Now, PAs are being introduced in various clinical settings to provide patient care for the general population. This article reviews major developments in the PA profession across Canada over the last decade. Nearly 541 PAs are employed in Canada or work for a Canadian agency. Growing evidence demonstrates the positi...

Most scarcities that underpin health disparities within and among countries are not natural; rather, they result from policy choices and the operation of social institutions. Using examples from the United States of America: the Chicago heat wave and hurricane Katrina, this paper develops "denaturalizing scarcity" as a strategy for enquiry to inform public-health ethics in an interconnected wor...

Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) eliminates illegible handwriting, reduces medical errors, and improves patient care. The administration, medical staff, nursing, and health information systems departments of a community teaching hospital cooperated to achieve organization-wide use of its CPOE system.

Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) is touted as a major improvement in patient safety, primarily as a result of the Institute of Medicine's 1999 report on medical errors and the subsequent formation of the "Leapfrog Group" of companies to preferentially direct their employees' health care to those institutions that install such systems (as part of directives that "Leapfrog" feels will im...

A typical joint venture is structured as a limited liability company (LLC). Under this nontaxable structure, income passes directly through to the owners, which benefits both physicians and hospitals. For taxable owners, such as physicians, the income is not subject to “double taxation” (where earnings are taxable both to the corporation and to the individual investor). And for a nonprofit enti...