Friday, January 16, 2009
Welcome Bloggers: This site is not for those who wear their emotions on the sleeve.
Welcome to Burkett's Box, this site is dedicated to the tireless professionals in the field of nursing. Please visit often and comment often. Feel free to start your own line of comments concerning nursing and health care issues. Thank you for visiting and remember to be a life-long learner!
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This blog is intended for the scholarly blogging of current issues and policies concerning nursing and health care in the United States. Please feel free to add scholarly comments concerning issues posted and any other concerns on your mind. Please keep in mind this is for educational purposes only, kindly refrain from profanity and rants.(leave the ranting to this student!) ;)
ReplyDeleteAccording to the IOMs report in 2008, there are disparities in the access to health care in the United States. What are your thoughts on this topic? Do health care disparities exist? If so, what would you suggest to eliminate or lessen this problem?
ReplyDeleteDrew, my thinking (assumptions :) related to health care disparities has somewhat varied. After reading and having discussion with other others, I do believe that we have disparities in health care. One for example is how women who present to the ER with chest pain are treated. I once read, sorry I cannot repeat the information from memory :) that women who present to providers with chest pain are not taken seriously as men. Treatment may actually be delayed for women and because of this, women die from heart attacks due to this ignoring of symptoms. Has anyone else ever read anything about this?
ReplyDeleteDebbie I concur with your statement. Women and minorities are sometimes under-served and their symptoms are discounted. There seems to be disparity as well in health education aimed at minorities and women. Could it be that we have a chauvinistic society? Are medical providers biased or just plain racist...Your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteDebbie and Drew, I too have read articles concerning the gender differences in treating chest pain. I believe that in talking about this topic, in particular, a couple of different possible reasons exist for this disparity. In the past, most research was conducted on white males. It was not until women were studied that it was learned that women often have different symptoms than the classic chest pain experienced by men. Until research is conducted and published on various populations and practitioners recognize these differences, disparity will continue to exist in diagnosing cardiac chest pain.
ReplyDeleteNext, as humans, we have a tendency to congregate with those we most closely recognize. For ages, there were gender based professions and roles, for instance. Until the recent past, physician were predominantly male hence they identified with their male patients more closely.
Lastly, women and minorities in the past were considered second-class citizens. As such, disparities truly did exist. Currently, I believe disparities result from prejudice the practitioner may possess whether it be a Muslim, Seventh Day Adventist, the mentally ill, or drug-seeking addict. How often, we hear comments in our daily practice aimed at different and varied groups... and how often do we ourselves utter these disparaging remarks? Does our practice and the patient's treatment suffer???
Mary you are right on target as usual and on my toes I might add!:) It is a must for each of us and all of our colleagues to continue to learn and grow emotionally as well as cognitively. When we think we have all the answers we become very dangerous and if we assume a diagnosis away we do a major injustice to our clients.
ReplyDeleteI know of a female minority in her 30s that presented to the ER with chest pain. Not only was her chest pain not treated, but she says she was asked to pay an outstanding balance before she would be seen by a healthcare professional. She left, only to return 3 days later with the same complaint. This time she was treated and ended up having open heart surgery due to a disecting left main!
ReplyDeleteIn this case not only was being a female and a minority an "obstacle", but also age.
Ali, It is so sad to think that this type of thing could happen in America! And we wonder why people don't seek healthcare in a timely manner?!?!? We must be the voice for those individuals who do not know how to navigate the healthcare system -- when you are not being heard -- or taken seriously -- it is easier to just walk away.
ReplyDeleteI truly believe (my heartfelt assumption) from my experience in working in women's health that more health issues in women are attributed to emotions than illness in males. There tends to be less reaction and sometimes more challenging of a female's statement of symptoms and history of illness than a male's. This just one factor among many. There are many people who do not use their voice for whatever reason. Our goal should be to empower individuals to be personally responsible for their healthcare and to ensure that their voice is heard.
ReplyDeleteSelf-responsibility is the key. My mother is a prime example of someone who takes what the doctor says as gospel, doesn't ask questions, and does not advocate for herself. She is a representation of the middle class Caucasian group with good access to health care and good insurance. How much hard is it for a minority group with no insurance to challenge and take control of their health outcomes?
Michelle, You mom is not unlike many other individuals of her generation. We want people to have faith in the health care system, yet we also want to educate them that they must be proactive, ask questions and get second opinions when possible. Unfortunately, in Montgomery I have knowledge of a rather perplexing problem when it comes to neurologists. If you want a second opinion from a neurologist in Montgomery, they will not see you if you have seen another neurologist in Montgomery. Now, what is up with that?
ReplyDeleteRamona, comments illustrate clearly to me that until the system is changed somehow, someway, we can't really address issues such as disparities.I believe one of the problems with health care disparities is lack of knowledge on the part of the health care provider and then on a lack of individual accountability which is clearly demonstrated in Michelle's comments. Until we educate the consumer to ask questions and until we find someway to hold people accountable for their health care...
ReplyDeleteI concur with the posting lauding personal responsibility and I say... Amen, but what about the immigrant who does not speak the language, is uneducated, and uninsured. Who will speak for them? I just recently admitted a 46 y o Hispanic client who had ovarian cancer. No money, no knowledge, no understanding of the system, now no life...Dead at 46...
ReplyDeleteFaith, this is truly said. I know this is going to sound so callus and I do not mean for it to but we cannot even take care of American citizens yet we continue to have open borders where illegal immigrants have access to our health care system. I am not sure if this lady was illegal but the fact that she had no money, did not speak the language, etc...who should take the blame? If immigrants come to the US legally don't they bear the burden of learning to speak the language and to take care of their health needs. It is so overwhelming and so easy to be judgmental...I am having cognitive dissonance :)
ReplyDeleteWhat can each individual nurse do to lessen health care disparities? Drew, you pose this seemingly simple question but I would say that the first thing nurses have to do is get into the literature and see if disparities do exist. Awareness is the first step. Then they have to think about solutions to preventing disparities. Then they must implement these solutions. Sounds pretty simple doesn't it. However, it the individual nurse does not value that disparities exist, then those nurses will continue to ignore the facts. There are facts to support that minorites in race, ethnicity, age and gender are treated in a disparate manner...I would like to hear more personal/professional examples of these facts. I will be the first to offer an example. My aunt who passed away a number of years ago from cancer of the lung was essentially ignored when she presented with symptoms of not eating well, weight loss, ect..because she was old. I believe this with all my heart. In fact, she did not get an x-ray until the cancer was advanced...why!!!
ReplyDeleteLove the music. Great blog Drew. Know you wish more people would participate but the blog has valuable information. Hope you can keep it going after the class :)
ReplyDelete