Journal of general internal medicine
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To determine the percentage of patients enrolled in a primary care practice who use the Internet for health information, to describe the types of information sought, to evaluate patients' perceptions of the quality of this information, and to determine if patients who use the Internet for health information discuss this with their doctors. ⋯ Primary care providers should recognize that patients are using the World Wide Web as a source of medical and health information and should be prepared to offer suggestions for Web-based health resources and to assist patients in evaluating the quality of medical information available on the Internet.
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Domestic violence has an estimated 30% lifetime prevalence among women, yet physicians detect as few as 1 in 20 victims of abuse. ⋯ Physicians screen few female patients for domestic violence. Further study should address whether domestic violence training can correct misperceptions and improve physician self-confidence in caring for victims and whether the use of specific intervention strategies can enhance screening rates.
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Comparative Study
Adherence of low-income women to cancer screening recommendations.
African-American and low-income women have lower rates of cancer screening and higher rates of late-stage disease than do their counterparts. ⋯ Organizing healthcare services to promote continuity with a specific primary care clinician, a comprehensive array of services available at the primary care delivery site, coordination among providers, and better patient-practitioner relationships are likely to improve inner-city, low-income women's adherence to cancer screening recommendations.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Barriers to initiating depression treatment in primary care practice.
This study used qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the reasons primary care physicians and nurses offered for their inability to initiate guideline-concordant acute-phase care for patients with current major depression. ⋯ Current interventions fail to address barriers to initiating guideline-concordant acute-stage care faced by more than a quarter of depressed primary care patients. Physicians feel that barriers arise most frequently from factors centered with the patients, their psychosocial circumstances, and their attitudes and beliefs about depression and its care. Physicians less frequently make judgments that overrule the guidelines, but do so when patients have complex illness patterns. Further descriptive and experimental studies are needed to confirm and further examine barriers to depression care. Because few untreated patients improve without acute-stage care, additional work is also needed to develop new intervention components that address these barriers.
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To describe the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in a sample of homeless and impoverished adults and examine risk factors for HCV infection in the overall sample and as a function of injection drug use. ⋯ Targeted outreach for homeless women and their partners, including HCV testing coupled with referrals to HCV and substance abuse treatments, may be helpful.