Category: A
Personal/Family barriers
Acceptability Services must be desirable and viewed as acceptable to the patient/client and family. Physical setting, demeanor, and scope of services all must be acceptable. Language/Literacy Patients/clients experience significant barriers when important information is complex and not in their native language. Complicated systems such as application for Medicaid present perceived and real barriers in literacy [...]
Financial barriers
Insurance Coverage Insurance coverage, tied to employment, is the admission ticket to health services. While there are several government programs to provide services, substantial numbers fall into the “near poor” and uninsured or underinsured groups. Patients/clients are reluctant to seek care without insurance and providers/facilities are reluctant to provide care since services may not be [...]
Structural barriers
Availability Access to health service, in particular, a regular source of medical care, is contingent upon services being available where and when needed by the service population. Barriers based on availability, for example, occur when services are located only in more urban areas creating barriers for remote rural populations or during hours when those working [...]
Abortion
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.18 million legal abortions were performed in the United States in 1997. The risk of death from legal abortion is 0.4 per 100,000 induced abortions. Most abortions are performed surgically by vacuum curettage. Medical abortion (abortion induced by the use of medications) has recently become [...]
Technique for surgical abortion
Surgical abortion can be performed in an office or hospital setting. The success rate of surgical termination is 99%. It is usually a single-step process that requires one visit to the practitioner. In early pregnancy (less than 7 weeks), a small flexible plastic cannula (5-6 mm) is inserted into the uterus under sterile conditions. Plastic [...]
Medical abortions.
Medical termination requires the close observation of a practitioner. It usually requires two or more visits, and there is a potential need for emergency intervention during the process. Finally, it requires close follow-up to ensure that the process of abortion is complete. The earlier the gestational age is, the higher the complete abortion rate. The [...]
Abdominal pain
Abdominal pain is the most common gastrointestinal symptom for which medical evaluation is sought. It is a nonspecific, unpleasant sensation that can be associated with a multitude of conditions originating both within and outside the abdomen. Causes may range from common normal physiologic processes to life-threatening emergencies. There are many factors that contribute to the [...]
Chronic abdominal pain
Chronic abdominal pain occurring over a period of weeks to months in the absence of any alarm signs or symptoms may be less urgent, allowing for a more systematic evaluation. Chronic intermittent pain may, at times, be particularly difficult to diagnose whereas chronic persistent pain usually has an identifiable cause, such as chronic pancreatitis, disseminated [...]