Archive
Perspectives in Primary Care features writing from practitioners, activists, and community members representing organizations, practices, and institutions across the United States and around the world.
Advocacy
The Role of Advocacy in Primary Care
Primary care physicians are uniquely positioned to go beyond the immediate needs of their patients. Everything from writing a prescription to examining the larger, more daunting socioeconomic and environmental factors that affect their patients’ health and well-being falls within their scope of work. “When physicians have a trusting relationship with their patients, there are things that are disclosed between the walls of an exam room that many people would not disclose otherwise,” says
Advocacy
Air Pollution Is the New Radiation. It is Time to Act Like It.
In the not-so distant past, you may not have thought twice about your exposure to radiation. While Roentgen discovered the X-ray in 1895, it would not be until the early-mid 1900s that the general public—let alone the scientific community—would accept the malignant potential of an invisible, devastating force, powerful enough to pierce bone, burst cells, and warp DNA. It would take years of tragedy before we finally recognized radiation for what it was—a threat to human health. That begs the question, why aren’t we doing ...
Advocacy
Relating Place, History, and Neighborhood Context to Mental Health: A Baltimore Case Study
Mental health is a growing public health priority. While people from racial/ethnic minority groups generally report a similar prevalence of mental health conditions compared to the rest of the U.S. population, they have