Improving underserved children's access to health care: practitioners' views.
This article describes the results of three focus groups conducted with a variety of children's health care providers in a county in the southeastern United States. The purpose of the research was to investigate practitioners' views on the barriers impeding access to health care for medically underserved children. The focus groups were the third phase of a larger study designed to collect data on communication patterns among children's health care providers as well as information on children's access to care. The results include suggestions for actions practitioners can take to improve medically underserved children's access to health care.
Ames
Natalie
N
Department of Social Work, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27604, USA. nrames@social.chass.ncsu.edu
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003142:Communication; D003144:Communication Barriers; D004522:Educational Status; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D017144:Focus Groups; D006287:Health Planning Guidelines; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D011203:Poverty; D015144:Southeastern United States; D013997:Time Factors; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration; D014186:Transportation; D016526:Workload