BACKGROUND Previous studies investigating factors associated with healthcare utilization by older Ghanaians lack distinction between public and private health services. The present study examined factors associated with public and private healthcare service use, and the resulting perceived health system responsiveness. OBJECTIVES To identify factors associated with public and private healthca...

Department of Agric. Economics and Extension, University of Uyo, Uyo,Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. E-mail address: [email protected] The study assessed rural household accessibility to health care on agricultural resource use efficiency in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. Primary data were duly obtained using well structured questionnaire which was administered on eighty r...

German water guidelines do not recommend routine assessment of cold water for Legionella in healthcare facilities, except if the water temperature at distal sites exceeds 25°C. This study evaluates Legionella contamination in cold and warm water supplies of healthcare facilities in Hesse, Germany, and analyses the relationship between cold water temperature and Legionella contamination. Samples...

In 2009, we conducted a survey to assess the use of mercury-based thermometers and sphygmomanometers and their disposal in Croatian healthcare facilities. The questionnaire addressing the use of mercury-based medical devices, waste management, preferences between mercury-based and electronic devices, and the knowledge on mercury toxicity was filled by ward nurses affiliated with 40 (71.4 %) out...

BACKGROUND We used the insurance claims of a representative cohort to quantify the patterns of ambulatory care visits, especially the doctor-shopping phenomenon, in Taiwan. METHODS The ambulatory visit files of the 200,000-person cohort datasets from the National Health Insurance Research Database in 2002 were analyzed. Only a visit with physician consultation would be considered. We computed...

Effective preventive healthcare services have a significant role in reducing fatality and medical expenses in all human societies and the level of accessibility of customers to these services can be considered as a measure of their efficiency and effectiveness. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a service network design model of preventive healthcare facilities with the principal obje...

BACKGROUND Service readiness of health facilities is an integral part of providing comprehensive quality healthcare to the community. Comprehensive assessment of general and service-specific (i.e. child immunization) readiness will help to identify the bottlenecks in healthcare service delivery and gaps in equitable service provision. Assessing healthcare facilities readiness also helps in opti...