Utilization of medical care following the Three Mile Island crisis

Four studies are reported on how utilization of primary health care was affected by the Three Mile Island (TMI) crisis and subsequent distress experienced by persons living in the vicinity of the plant. The studies concerned: 1) Blue Cross-Blue Shield records of claims by primary care physicians in the vicinity of TMI; 2) utilization rates in a family practice located near the facility; 3) interviews with persons living within five miles of TMI following the crisis; and 4) responses to a questionnaire by primary care physicians practicing within 25 miles of TMI. All four studies indicated only slight increases in utilization rates during the year following the crisis. One study found that persons who were upset during the crisis tended to be high practice utilizers both before and after the crisis. These results suggest that, while patterns of physician utilization prior to the TMI crisis predicted emotional response during the crisis, the impact of the TMI crisis on subsequent physician utilization was small

Distress · Environmental health · Family medicine · Geography · Mile · Primary care · Sociology · Demography · Disaster Response and Management · Emergency and Acute Care Studies · Medicine · Migration, Health and Trauma

• The impact of the accident at the Three Mile Island on the behavior and well-being of nuclear workers; Part I

  S V Kasl, Rupert F Chisholm et al.•American Journal of Public Health•1981

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• Stress and the Utilization of Health Services

  Steven L Gortmaker, John Eckenrode et al.•Journal of Health and Social…•1982

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