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Table 1 Six dimensions related to access to health services

From: How do surgeons decide to refer patients for adjuvant cancer treatment? Protocol for a qualitative study

Dimension

Examples

Availability

Resources (personnel, equipment, technology), prevailing wait times

Accessibility

Centralized services, “close to home,” transportation difficulty

Accommodation

Coordination and integration of services, “satellite’ cancer clinics,” telemedicine

Affordability

Funding of cancer services, insurance/drug coverage, indirect patient costs (lodging, transportation)

Acceptability

Patient and provider attitudes toward one another, patient characteristics (e.g., age, sex, comorbid conditions, life expectancy), patient preferences, provider characteristics (e.g., sex, years of practice, level of specialization, surgery volume)

Awareness

Patient and provider awareness of evidence for therapy, clinical practice guidelines, structures that support multidisciplinary dialogue/consultation