Internists can assume a greater role in the provision of health care to adolescents. Adding an understanding of adolescent development to the skills and knowledge already possessed by internists will allow internists to interact more comfortably and effectively with adolescent patients. Learning about specific areas of importance such as adolescent morbidity and mortality, consent and confident...

Clinics today specialize in health repair services similar to car repair shops; procedures and prices are standardized, regulated, and inflexibly uniform. Clinics of the future have to become Health Care Centers in order to be more respected and more effective corporate neighbors in offering outreach services in health education and preventive health care. The traditional concept of care for he...

AIMS The intention was to investigate whether preventive health checks and health discussions are cost effective. METHODS In a randomized trial the authors compared two intervention groups (A and B) and one control group. In 1991 2,000 30- to 49-year-old persons were invited and those who accepted were randomized. Both intervention groups were offered a broad (multiphasic) screening including...

Historically, the mental health system has not effectively addressed the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse individuals (President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, 2003), which has contributed to significant racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care (USDHHS, 2001). This paper focuses on exploring how a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minor...

Physicians who provide primary care for children are considered to be in a unique position to provide dental preventive care to their patients. No literature relates the amount of preventive oral health education that physicians receive during training. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of pediatricians and family physicians toward preventive dental c...

This paper examines the case of Mexican immigrants in the United States and their access to medical services within a political economy of health framework. Such an approach stresses that the provision of health care is independent of health factors per se and that access to health care is not equally distributed throughout a population. The first section reviews the three major concepts influe...

OBJECTIVES We sought to find racial differences in the effects of trust in the health care system on preventive health service use among older adults. METHODS We conducted a telephone survey with 1681 Black and White older adults. Survey questions explored respondents' trust in physicians, medical research, and health information sources. We used logistic regression and controlled for covaria...

Contracting out of health services to the private sectors has been the subject of extensive debate and discussion among health personnel and policymakers. Outsourcing is now considered as a useful management tool for health care managers in the public sector. Outsourcing increases efficiency and service quality, reduces costs, focuses on core processes, improves skills, enhances the overall com...