Articles

Harm reduction when it’s for our own kids: comment on Hagit Bonny-Noach, “The evolution of Israeli public policy for drug-using backpackers

Hagit Bonny-Noach notes the challenging history of illicit substance use among Israeli backpackers. Few Israeli practices are more normative than the backpacking-trip as a rite of passage. Unsurprisingly, back...

Authors: Harold A. Pollack

Assessing the determinants of healthcare expenditures in single-person households

The study documents a direct relationship between individuals’ health and patterns of healthcare expenditure by isolating single-person households and creating a new reference group in which household healthca...

Authors: Aviad Tur-Sinai, Racheli Magnezi and Haya Grinvald-Fogel

Nurses in expanded roles to strengthen community-based health promotion and chronic care: policy implications from an international perspective; A commentary

Chronic conditions and health inequalities are increasing worldwide. Against this backdrop, several countries, including Israel, have expanded the roles of nurses as one measure to strengthen the primary care ...

Authors: Claudia B. Maier, Hannah Budde and James Buchan

Improving research and policy interactions requires a better understanding of what works in different contexts

There is keen interest in many jurisdictions in finding ways to improve the way that research evidence informs policy. One possible mechanism for this is to embed academics within government agencies either as...

Authors: Joshua J. Robinson, Nicholas Mays and Alec Fraser

A fragile but critical link: a commentary on the importance of government-academy relationships

Interactions between government and academia can be an important support to effective policy and they can also ground researchers’ methods and perspectives more strongly in the realities of policy-making and p...

Authors: Adalsteinn Brown, Greg Marchildon, Stephen Bornstein and Moriah Ellen

Improving preventive and health promotion care for children

The emerging science in early childhood development challenges past paradigms of health care. There is consideration within the profession of paediatrics, and health care more broadly, of how to make systems o...

Authors: Moira Inkelas and Frank Oberklaid

Research in government and academia: the case of health policy

Authors: Sherry Glied, Raphael Wittenberg and Avi Israeli

Promoting patient comprehension of relevant health information

Patient understanding of health care recommendations provided by health care professionals is essential to enabling active and informed patient participation in care. Unfortunately, evidence suggests that pati...

Authors: Gary L. Kreps

Gender differences in the comprehension of care plans in an emergency department setting

Previous studies have shown that, in a variety of health care settings, patients often do not understand what health care professionals tell them about their diagnoses and care plans; this is particularly true...

Authors: Shachaf Shiber, Rona Zuker-Herman, Michael J. Drescher and Marek Glezerman

Influencing medical student choice of primary care worldwide: international application of the four pillars for primary care physician workforce

Primary care is a crucial part of a functional health care system, though in many parts of the world there are current or projected gaps in the primary care physician workforce. The academic family medicine or...

Authors: Amanda Weidner and Ardis Davis

Health care access and satisfaction in Judean and Samarian communities: opportunities for improving care

There are distinctive potential barriers to optimal health care in Judea and Samaria because of access and satisfaction levels, including obstacles such as its isolation and health care capacity. However, ther...

Authors: Ephraim Shapiro, Avi Zigdon and Rachel Nissanholtz-Gannot

The demographic and morbidity characteristics of a population receiving food support in Israel

Food supply to poor populations is a big challenge, particularly in periods of economic stress and in an era of chronic diseases epidemics. In Israel more than 4000 poor families are currently receiving food s...

Authors: M. Endeweld, R. Goldsmith and R. Endevelt

Using the capabilities approach to understand inequality in primary health-care services for people with severe mental illness

Epidemiological studies show disparities in the provision of physical health-care for people with severe mental illness. This observation includes countries with universal health insurance. However, there is l...

Authors: Maya Lavie-Ajayi, Galia S. Moran, Itzhak Levav, Rotem Porat, Tal Reches, Margalit Goldfracht and Gilad Gal

How can we change medical students’ perceptions of a career in family medicine? Marketing or substance?

Family Medicine (FM) is the care of unselected patients with undifferentiated problems in the settings where people need care in our communities. It is intellectually challenging, providing breadth and depth u...

Authors: Amnon Lahad, Andrew Bazemore, Davorina Petek, William R. Phillips and Dan Merenstein

Antenatal anaesthesia clinics – the way forward?

Specialist antenatal clinics are increasingly being used to enable anaesthetists to evaluate pregnant women with co-morbidities and those at high risk of obstetric complications. In this journal a team from Is...

Authors: Felicity Plaat and Catherine Harris

An international perspective on improving occupational conditions for direct care workers in home health

The occupational health and safety of direct care workers in the home health setting has been the focal point of a somewhat scarce, though highly important, body of research. Although the demand for home care ...

Authors: Miriam Ryvicker

Proven prevention tools for addressing STI epidemics

The ongoing rise of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) poses a global public health challenge and the risk of acquiring one of these infections depends upon sexual practices, the number of sexual encounter...

Authors: Anatole S. Menon-Johansson

Reflections of the quality of primary care in Canada and Israel

Rachel Podell and her colleagues at the National Program for Quality Indicators in Community Healthcare in Israel have provided a clear and engaging description of thequality of primary care provided to the el...

Authors: Richard H. Glazier

The epidemiology and economic burden of hip fractures in Israel

Hip fractures increase the risks of mortality and major morbidity in the elderly. Hip fractures are associated with chronic pain, reduced mobility, disability and increasing dependence. We evaluated the direct...

Authors: Royi Barnea, Yossi Weiss, Ifat Abadi-Korek and Joshua Shemer

Ten years of Israel’s organ transplant law: is it on the right track?

The Israeli organ donor law was established in 2008. In the ensuing 10 years there have been some improvements in deceased donation and living donor rates and a reduction in the unethical practice of transplan...

Authors: Jeffrey Zaltzman

Taxation of sugar sweetened beverages and unhealthy foods: a qualitative study of key opinion leaders’ views

Fiscal policies to fight obesity such as taxation of unhealthy foods or sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) have gained considerable attention in recent years. Many studies modelling the impact of various magnitu...

Authors: Orly Tamir, Tamar Cohen-Yogev, Sharon Furman-Assaf and Ronit Endevelt

Balancing autonomy and expediency within legal parameters: providing primary care to unaccompanied minors

The issue of how primary care clinicians manage unaccompanied minors is not well studied. This month’s article “Treatment of unaccompanied minors in primary care clinics- Caregivers practice and knowledge” beg...

Authors: Kelly Orringer

TB Anywhere is TB Everywhere

To control and prevent outbreaks, public health programs in all countries, regardless of tuberculosis (TB) incidence, must maintain the capacity to perform core control and prevention activities. These include...

Authors: Jonathan M. Wortham

Utilizing compassion and collaboration to reduce violence in healthcare settings

Violence in healthcare settings is a global problem and violent acts are more likely to occur in emergency departments (EDs). Significant barriers to reporting workplace violence persist among healthcare worke...

Authors: Beth A. Lown and Gary S. Setnik

Tuberculosis outbreak in a nursing home involving undocumented migrants and Israeli citizens

Israel has absorbed > 60,000 migrant from the horn of Africa (MHOA) since 2006. No cross-transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from MOHA to Israeli citizens has yet been reported. This study describes the re...

Authors: Z. Mor, N. Nuss, M. Savion, I. Nissan, M. Lidji, S. Maneshcu, H. Kaidar-Shwartz, Z. Amitai, E. Rorman and R. Sheffer

The role of gender in patient preference for breast surgical care – a comment on equality

Gender preference among patients seeking medical care is an issue that is not well understood. It warrants exploration, particularly for patients undergoing sensitive physical exams. In a recent IJHPR article,...

Authors: Tulin D. Cil and Alexandra M. Easson

Heterosexual men who purchase sex and attended an STI clinic in Israel: characteristics and sexual behavior

Commercial sex shares a role in HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STI) transmission. Men who pay for sex (MPS) may transmit HIV/STI to other populations which are low-risk. This study aimed to test our ...

Authors: Rivka Rich, Alex Leventhal, Rivka Sheffer and Zohar Mor

The tip of the iceberg: postpartum suicidality in Israel

Postpartum suicidality, a result of extreme distress or depression, is a tragedy for the woman, infant, and family. Screening for postpartum depression (PPD) is mandatory in Israel, including a question on sui...

Authors: Saralee Glasser, Daphna Levinson, Ethel-Sherry Gordon, Tali Braun, Ziona Haklai and Nehama Goldberger

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in non - smoking adults in Israel: results of the second Israel biomonitoring survey

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) increases the risk of heart and respiratory disease, cancer, and premature mortality in non-smoking individuals. Results from the first Israel Biomonitoring Study ...

Authors: Tamar Berman, Zohar Barnett-Itzhaki, Nisim Mery, Lital Keinan-Boker, Tal Shimony, Rebecca Goldsmith, Thomas Göen, Haim Geva and Laura Rosen

Violations of workers’ rights and exposure to work-related abuse of live-in migrant and live-out local home care workers – a preliminary study: implications for health policy and practice

Home care workers work in an isolated environment, with limited supervision and guidance which makes them more prone to abuse and exploitation. While past research focused mostly on the well-being of care reci...

Authors: Ohad Green and Liat Ayalon

Curriculum reform: Why? What? How? and how will we know it works?

In a recent IJHPR article, Dankner et al. describe a reform in one longitudinal strand within Basic Medical Education i.e.“ public health and preventive medicine curriculum” using a Competency Based Medical Ed...

Authors: Shmuel Reis

The quality of primary care provided to the elderly in Israel

In view of increasing global and local trends in population ageing and the high healthcare utilization rates among the elderly, this study assesses the quality of primary care provided to the elderly populatio...

Authors: Rachel Podell, Vered Kaufman Shriqui, Yael Wolff Sagy, Orly Manor and Arie Ben-Yehuda

Treatment of unaccompanied minors in primary care clinics - caregivers' practice and knowledge

By law, the provision of medical treatment to minors in the State of Israel is conditional upon the consent of their parents. In 2004, the Head of the Medical Administration Unit in the Ministry of Health issu...

Authors: Maya Peled-Raz, Michal Perl and Manfred S. Green

Challenges to the Israeli healthcare system: attracting medical students to primary care and to the periphery

The greatest challenges facing healthcare systems include ensuring a sufficient supply of primary care physicians and physicians willing to work in rural or peripheral areas. Especially challenging is enticing...

Authors: Charles Weissman, Rachel Yaffa Zisk-Rony, Alexander Avidan, Uriel Elchalal and Howard Tandeter

Frailty measurement and its contribution to clinical care and health services: a commentary

Frailty is associated with poorer quality of life and higher healthcare utilization and spending. Despite its importance, no clear consensus exists on the definition of frailty. The recent IJHPR article by Buc...

Authors: Shannon Wu and Bruce Leff

Healthcare disparities amongst vulnerable populations of Arabs and Jews in Israel

The complex nature of studying health and healthcare disparities in general, and in the context of the Israeli healthcare system in particular, is depicted in two recent IJHPR articles. The first examines Emer...

Authors: Efrat Shadmi

Regulating pharmaceutical companies’ financial largesse

Nissanholtz-Gannot and Yenkellevich (NGY) explore the impact of a 2010 amendment to the Israeli National Health Insurance Law that requires annual reporting of payments from pharmaceutical companies (PCs) to d...

Authors: Ronen Avraham and Charles Silver

The association between caries related treatment needs and socio-demographic variables among young Israeli adults: a record based cross sectional study

The need for dental treatments, especially those related to dental caries, may be associated with and influenced by a wide range of demographic variables. The aim of this study was to describe caries related t...

Authors: Dan Henry Levy, Alon Livny, Harold Sgan-Cohen and Nirit Yavnai

The evolution of Israeli public policy for drug-using backpackers

Over the past 20 years, the young-adult backpacking trip has emerged as a significant social phenomenon in Israeli society. This has received attention from scholars specializing in anthropology and tourism re...

Authors: Hagit Bonny-Noach

Defining and measuring population health quality of outpatient diabetes care in Israel: lessons from the quality indicators in community health program

In Israel, as in other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, performance measurement is a key public health strategy in monitoring and improving population health outcomes. The Isra...

Authors: Leonard M. Pogach and David C. Aron

Medical specialty selection criteria of Israeli medical students early in their clinical experience: subgroups

Israeli medical school classes include a number of student subgroups. Therefore, interventions aimed at recruiting medical students to the various specialties should to be tailored to each subgroup.

Authors: Alexander Avidan, Charles Weissman, Uriel Elchalal, Howard Tandeter and Rachel Yaffa Zisk-Rony

Estimated frailty prevalence among Israeli elderly – results from a cross sectional national survey

Increasing longevity presents new social and medical challenges in developed countries. The prevalence of frailty is of interest because of its association with health prognosis and outcomes, but so far there ...

Authors: Assaf Buch, Lital Keinan-Boker, Yitshal Berner, Eli Carmeli, Rebecca Goldsmith and Naftali Stern

Perspectives of health professionals on the best care settings for pediatric trauma casualties: a qualitative study

Critically-injured children are frequently treated by providers who lack specialty pediatric training in facilities that have not been modified for the care of children. We set out to understand the attitudes ...

Authors: Raya Madar, Bruria Adini, David Greenberg, Yehezkel Waisman and Avishay Goldberg

The influence of an accredited pediatric emergency medicine program on the management of pediatric pain and anxiety

The emergency department (ED) setting is an environment where children may experience intense physical pain and emotional stress.

Authors: Tali Capua, Zohar Bar Kama and Ayelet Rimon

Concurrent medical conditions among pregnant women - ignore at their peril: report from an antenatal anesthesia clinic

Care of pregnant women with concurrent medical conditions can be optimized by multidisciplinary antenatal management. In the current study we describe women with concurrent medical conditions who attended our ...

Authors: Carolyn F. Weiniger, Sharon Einav, Uriel Elchalal, Vladislav Ozerski, Daniel Shatalin, Alexander Ioscovich and Yehuda Ginosar

Israel’s 2008 Organ Transplant Law: continued ethical challenges to the priority points model

In 2008, responding to a widening gap between need and availability of transplant organs, Israel’s Ministry of Health adopted a program of incentivized cadaveric organ donation. The Organ Transplant Law reward...

Authors: Corinne Berzon

What’s in an eye roll? It is time we explore the role of workplace incivility in healthcare

A recent study of patient violence toward hospital physicians and nurses offers a welcome perspective in its classifying of aggressive behaviors as workplace violence. While patients and families are widely re...

Authors: Sharone Bar-David

Health disparities monitoring in the U.S.: lessons for monitoring efforts in Israel and other countries

Health disparities are a persistent problem in many high-income countries. Health policymakers recognize the need to develop systematic methods for documenting and tracking these disparities in order to reduce...

Authors: Kathleen Abu-Saad, Shlomit Avni and Ofra Kalter-Leibovici

Implementation of a competency-based medical education approach in public health and epidemiology training of medical students

There is increasing agreement among medical educators regarding the importance of improving the integration between public health and clinical education, understanding and implementation of epidemiological met...

Authors: Rachel Dankner, Uri Gabbay, Leonard Leibovici, Maya Sadeh and Siegal Sadetzki

Medical students’ perceptions of a career in family medicine

In Israel, there is a shortage of family medicine (FM) specialists that is occasioned by a shortage of students pursuing a FM career.

Authors: Sody Naimer, Yan Press, Charles Weissman, Rachel Yaffa Zisk-Rony, Yoram G. Weiss and Howard Tandeter