http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/healthcare Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Tue, 19 May 2026 19:22:18 -0400 Tue, 19 May 2026 19:22:18 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1889/single-payer-reform-and-rural-health-in-the-united-states-lessons-from-our-northern-neighbor By Jared M. Hirschfield - Single-payer health reform has secured its place in the mainstream American health policy debate, yet its implications for particular subpopulations or sectors of care remain understudied. Amidst many unanswered questions from policymakers and political pundits, rural health has emerged as one such area. This article explores rural Canada’s five-decade-long experience with a national publicly funded health insurance program as a valuable opportunity for cross-national learning. During March 2020, I conducted 13 semi-structured, elite stakeholder interviews with government officials, academic... Mon, 15 Mar 2021 02:29 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1889/single-payer-reform-and-rural-health-in-the-united-states-lessons-from-our-northern-neighbor http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1859/cultural-competencies-for-healthcare-providers-working-with-rural-finnish-americans By Abigail K. Carlson - The number of Americans aged 65-years-and-older is projected to increase significantly by 2050. As rural older adults age-in-place, it is imperative to examine the links between cultural competencies, ethnic minority status, and access to care. Rural providers from outside the local culture must recognize the need to practice cultural humility and cultural sensitivity to champion best practices of care. Finnish Americans have a unique subculture in the Upper Midwest, particularly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where they have historically faced much hardship, as well as significant barriers... Fri, 08 Jan 2021 12:54 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1859/cultural-competencies-for-healthcare-providers-working-with-rural-finnish-americans http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1743/can-the-value-proposition-work-in-health-care By Frederick J. White - The value proposition in the commercial setting is the functional relationship of quality and price. It is held to be a utility maximizing function of the relationship between buyer and seller. Its proponents assert that translation of the value proposition into the health care system of the United States is a necessary and perhaps indispensable solution to the current structural difficulties of health services delivery in our nation. But the application of the value proposition to health care delivery in the United States will meet with difficulty for a myriad of reasons. Some of these are inherent... Wed, 24 Oct 2018 08:24 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1743/can-the-value-proposition-work-in-health-care http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1428/the-forgotten-illnesses-the-mental-health-movements-in-modern-america By Grayson A. Bodenheimer - The modern world has made incredible bounds towards generating social movements to support disenfranchised groups. When thinking of social movements, people tend to conjure the image of visibly alienated groups that have become vocal in order to bring attention to and eventually change the systematic neglect they experience. The mental health movement (MHM), which has made notable progress over the past 50 years, only receives minimal attention from the larger society. Lipsky (1968: 1146-1147) argued that it is essential for a social movement to receive attention from the mass media to be influential... Sun, 10 Jul 2016 10:11 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1428/the-forgotten-illnesses-the-mental-health-movements-in-modern-america http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1424/accessibility-of-abortion-in-canada-geography-as-a-barrier-to-access-in-ontario-and-quebec By Daniela Bernal Kotlier - In Canada, a point of national pride has often been our publicly funded health care system. Its pillars of universality, accessibility and comprehensiveness exemplify the Canadian identity as being inclusive and progressive. However, it is important to look beyond the big picture and delve into how our health care system actually measures up to these standards in the lives of Canadians. Canada is often seen as a global leader in gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights (Action Canada for Sexual Health and Reproductive Rights [ACSHR], 2015a); we are one of the few countries in the world... Thu, 16 Jun 2016 08:06 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1424/accessibility-of-abortion-in-canada-geography-as-a-barrier-to-access-in-ontario-and-quebec http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1447/gendered-literacies-a-qualitative-study-of-literacy-practices-in-an-all-female-obgyn-clinic By Ira Memaj - In this ethnographic case study, field observations were conducted of an all-female obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) clinic located in Livonia, Michigan. While interacting with professionals as a student volunteer at the clinic, I took the role of a hidden participant observer and examined the behaviors of these female doctors and compared my observations to those of expected gendered roles. Writing from a New Literacy Studies (NLS) perspective and drawing from the works of sociologists James Gee and Brian Street, this paper provides possible evidence for social theories of literacy that emphasize... Tue, 31 May 2016 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1447/gendered-literacies-a-qualitative-study-of-literacy-practices-in-an-all-female-obgyn-clinic http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1448/do-healthcare-systems-discriminate-a-comparative-policy-analysis-of-health-inequality-in-the-united-states-and-united-kingdom By Sarah E. Rudasill - This comparative analysis of U.S. and U.K. healthcare systems pinpoints inequalities in health outcomes and recommends policies to alleviate disparities. Mortality data from the CDC'S WONDER Database and Cancer Research U.K. were used to analyze two gendered conditions – female breast cancer and male prostate cancer– for mortality rates and relative mortality ratios by region, race, and socioeconomic status. The data indicate that although the United States outperforms the United Kingdom in overall mortality rates for breast and prostate cancers, outcomes for U.S. Black residents are... Tue, 31 May 2016 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1448/do-healthcare-systems-discriminate-a-comparative-policy-analysis-of-health-inequality-in-the-united-states-and-united-kingdom http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1347/the-impact-of-medicaid-expansion-on-hiv-positive-men-and-women-in-the-southern-united-states By Sarah E. Rudasill - The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 called upon states to expand Medicaid, a subsidized health insurance program, for individuals making up to effectively 138 percent of the federal poverty line. The rapidly growing HIV-positive community of the southern United States, a geographic region that has recently been named the new epicenter for HIV, is especially positioned to benefit from such an expansion. Projections of the number of HIV-positive individuals eligible for the Medicaid expansion reveal that a substantial proportion of the HIV-positive community will enjoy greater... Tue, 02 Feb 2016 10:35 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1347/the-impact-of-medicaid-expansion-on-hiv-positive-men-and-women-in-the-southern-united-states http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1313/the-epidemiology-pathogenesis-and-treatment-of-type-1-diabetes-mellitus By Ishita Aggarwal - Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), also known as insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic disease caused by autoimmune (type 1a) or spontaneous (type 1b) destruction of pancreatic beta cells, resulting in insulin deficiency. It is generally diagnosed in children before 20 years of age and is oftentimes fatal. This review will discuss the epidemiology of T1DM, including its incidence and prevalence, related temporal trends and risk factors for development. Furthermore, pathogenesis and immune system involvement of the disease will be evaluated, with a particular focus on cells of the adaptive and... Tue, 24 Nov 2015 08:38 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1313/the-epidemiology-pathogenesis-and-treatment-of-type-1-diabetes-mellitus http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/839/healthcare-access-implications-and-psychosocial-effects-of-sickle-disease By Kitty Chen - Millman (1993) defines healthcare access as "the timely use of affordable personal health services to achieve the best possible health outcomes," implying that healthcare access involves only access to insurance, patient satisfaction with physicians, and/or patient utilization of preventive health care (p. 5). However, I agree more with Rouse (2004), who uses the term "access" more broadly, such that patient access has two parts. The first part, which has multiple variables, is a patient's ability to be seen by a medical professional, and the second part is the quality of the patient/practitioner... Thu, 19 Dec 2013 04:41 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/839/healthcare-access-implications-and-psychosocial-effects-of-sickle-disease http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/284/health-care-utilization-in-the-kenyan-health-system-challenges-and-opportunities By Dustin R. Turin - The prevalence of communicable disease in Kenya is a major factor in determining health outcomes. HIV prevalence among urban adults is estimated at 10%, versus an estimated 5.6% for rural adults.[vi] HIV prevalence is not evenly distributed throughout the country, with prevalence rates in Nyanza province nearly double the national average.[vii] Compounding the challenge presented by high HIV positive rates, there were in excess of 100,000 cases of Tuberculosis (TB) in 2008, with co-infection rates for TB and HIV of 45%.[viii] Malaria represents another significant burden, with 13.6% of deaths... Mon, 13 Sep 2010 06:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/284/health-care-utilization-in-the-kenyan-health-system-challenges-and-opportunities http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/132/the-human-genome-and-patient-privacy-a-proposal-to-expand-protections-for-patients-and-family-members By Tonei Glavinic - Existing laws cover the release of health information, which includes genetic information. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of 2008 (Pub. L. No. 110-223) adds genetic information to the definition of “health information” under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, severely restricting its release without a patient’s express consent (CRS, 2008; NIH, 2009). GINA also prohibits insurance companies and employers from requiring genetic testing of clients and employees except in a limited number of circumstances, and prohibits... Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:41 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/132/the-human-genome-and-patient-privacy-a-proposal-to-expand-protections-for-patients-and-family-members