Understanding Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Differences in the Ambulatory Care Experience.

Background And Objective: Racial and ethnic and socioeconomic differences in patient experience are prevalent and can negatively impact health outcomes. Our objective was to examine differences in family experience of care in the pediatric ambulatory setting.

Methods: We conducted interviews with parents of patients from different demographic groups who had received care at 1 of 3 clinics at a quaternary children's hospital.

Self-Efficacy, Perceived Barriers to Care, and Health-Promoting Behaviors Among Franco-Americans Across Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Purpose: To assess the prevalence of perceived barriers to accessing health care services, self-efficacy, and health-promoting behaviors among Franco-Americans as a higher-risk group for familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), stratified by cardiovascular risk factors.

Design: Cross-sectional survey based on components of the Health Belief Model.

Setting: Administered in-person at a Franco-American cultural center and online through mailing lists and social media platforms in the Northeastern United States.

Familial Hypercholesterolemia and the Founder Effect Among Franco-Americans: A Brief History and Call to Action.

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited disorder characterized by chronically elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and an increased risk of premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. FH has been shown to disproportionately affect French Canadians and other ethnic populations due to the presence of a founder effect characterized by reduced genetic diversity resulting from relatively few individuals with FH-causing genetic mutations establishing self-contained populations. Beginning in the mid-1800s, approximately 1 million French Canadians immigrated to the Northeastern United States and largely remained in these small, tight-knit communities.

The POLST paradigm and form:Facts and analysis.

This white paper, prepared by a working group of the Catholic Medical Association, provides a commentary on a new type of end-of-life document called a POLST form (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) as well as on its model (or "paradigm") for implementation across the United States. After an introductory section reviewing the origin, goals, and standard defenses of the POLST paradigm and form, the paper offers a critical analysis of POLST, including an analysis of the risks that POLST poses to sound clinical and ethical decision-making. The paper ends with several recommendations to help Catholic healthcare professionals and institutions better address the challenges of end-of-life care with alternatives to POLST.