A four-country survey of public attitudes towards restricting healthcare costs by limiting the use of high-cost medical interventions.

Objective: To discern how the public in four countries, each with unique health systems and cultures, feels about efforts to restrain healthcare costs by limiting the use of high-cost prescription drugs and medical/surgical treatments.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Adult populations in Germany, Italy, the UK and the USA.

Comparison of satisfaction with cancer screening at mobile van and static sites: National Cancer Screening Program in Korea.

Objectives: Our objectives were to evaluate participant satisfaction in the National Cancer Screening Program (NCSP) and to examine differences in satisfaction between mobile vans and static sites.

Methods: A total of 243 967 participants who were screened by NCSP between January and May 2007 were eligible for the study. Of these, 3416 samples were randomly chosen and stratified by the type of cancer screened and screening unit.

Access to care and use of preventive services by Hispanics: state-based variations from 1991 to 2004.

Background: State-level disparities in access to physicians and preventive services between Hispanics and whites may have changed over time.

Objective: To assess state-based changes in Hispanics' access to physicians and preventive services from 1991 to 2004.

Methods: Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in the 10 states with the largest Hispanic populations, we examined 4 preventive services for eligible adults (mammography, Papanicolaou testing, colorectal cancer screening, and cholesterol testing) and 2 measures of access to physicians (obtaining routine checkup in prior 2 years and avoiding seeing physician when needed due to cost in prior year).

[Trend of socioeconomic inequality in participation in cervical cancer screening among Korean women].

Objectives: While cervical cancer is one of the leading cancers among women worldwide, there are a number of effective early detection tests available. However, the participation rates in cervical cancer screening among Korean women remain low. After the nationwide efforts in 1988 and thereafter to encourage participation in cervical cancer screening, few studies have investigated the effects of socioeconomic inequality on participation in cervical cancer screening.

Nurses' perception of error reporting and patient safety culture in Korea.

An exploratory study was conducted with 886 nurses at eight Korean teaching hospitals to describe nurses' perception of frequency of error reporting and patient safety culture in their hospitals and to identify relationships between the nurses' perception and work-related factors. The authors found that the majority of nurses were not comfortable reporting errors or communicating concerns about safety issues. A significant portion reported concerns about patient safety issues in their working unit.