Demographic changes in the United States bring diverse cultures, languages, and challenges to health care delivery, particularly for children. Providing high-quality health care that is patient centered and equitable requires tailored care and a focus on both health care disparities and health literacy.1 Major connections between health literacy and disparities include a common focus on improvi...

results the findings of this study showed that in most selected countries, primary care services were provided by the private sector and the public sector has been mostly functioning as a supervisor in this area, but in iran, primary care services were provided by the government. the findings of this study also showed that hospital services in iran and selected countries (second and third level...

Health care consumers increasingly obtain health information from the Internet to inform their health care; the health care consumer, who also has the role of patient, maintains the right to access information from sources of their choosing for this purpose. However, noteworthy considerations exist including information appraisal skills, health literacy and the patient-provider relationship. Aw...

CONTEXT The benefits of continuity of pediatric care remain controversial. OBJECTIVE To determine whether there is an association between having a continuous relationship with a primary care pediatric provider and improved quality of care by parental report. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING AND POPULATION Seven hundred fifty-nine patients presenting to a primary care clinic completed...

CONTEXT Pain has significant socioeconomic, health, and quality-of-life implications. Racial- and ethnic-based differences in the pain care experience have been described. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to be undertreated for pain when compared with non-Hispanic Whites. OBJECTIVES To provide health care providers, researchers, health care policy analysts, government officials, patients, an...

BACKGROUND Discussions of maternity care in developing countries tend to emphasise service uptake and overlook choice of provider. Understanding how families choose among health providers is essential to addressing inequitable access to care. Our objectives were to quantify the determinants and choice of maternity care provider in Mumbai's informal urban settlements, and to explore the reasons ...

OBJECTIVES To assess the quality of sexually transmitted infections (STI) care in health care facilities in Abidjan attended by female sex workers. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in June 2000 in the 29 health care facilities and 10 pharmacies, which were reported as points of first encounter for STI care by female sex workers in a previous study on health seeking behaviour. Eva...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relative impact of physician groups and health plans on quality of care measures. DESIGN Secondary data analysis of receipt of preventive care services included in the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) among 10 758 patients representing 21 health maintenance organizations and 22 large provider groups in the San Francisco and Los Angeles, Califo...