Article Critique
Article Review: Preventive Care for Children in the United State
Children’s health and insurance has been a current topic in the news, both at state and federal levels. State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has been under scrutiny by lawmakers and government representatives particularly now as funding is an issue. In a review of preventive care for children, it is apparent that many children are not receiving preventive care that is needed (Chung, Lee, Morrison, & Schuster, 2006).
The authors identified that their objective “was to examine the academic literature covering the quality of childhood preventive care and to identify barriers to poor or disparate quality” (Chung et al., 2006, 491). The objective was clearly determined in the abstract of the article. Their introduction was brief but did provide definitions and recommendations fro preventive care that would be explored in their review of the academic literature. The authors stated that a “broad systematic quality assessment of children’s preventive care could not be found” (Chung et al., 491).
The methods section of the review was brief. The literature review indicated that only PubMed was used as the search tool with an initial 138 articles being retained for their search. Another 42 articles were added to the initial list from bibliographies of the articles retained from PubMed and discussions from experts in the field.
In their study, the authors focused on studies with large sample groups to enhance the quality of the results. The focused on large observational studies and interventions that focused on four primary issues: a) frequency of visits, b) developmental and psychosocial surveillance, c) screening for diseases and d) anticipatory guidance. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau both recommend six well child health visits in the first year followed by three in the second year and a total of 17...
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