The situation of discrimination against African American citizens in the field of healthcare is an ongoing social issue which has been a part of the United States since time immemorial. Discrimination in healthcare continues to negatively affect the quality of care that African American citizens get. In this form of discrimination, the biases and stereotypes can cause health care providers to discriminate against African Americans, hence receiving poor treatment, lack of access, and poor health outcomes. It is an imperative matter to address such an issue and work in the direction of eliminating discrimination in the field of health care in order to ensure that each person gets fair and quality medical care. Every citizen of America should …show more content…
This can range from longer wait times to fewer options for treatment and less thorough examinations. In a newspaper article from PBS, the author Sciacca states,” An analysis by the nonprofit Urban Institute published in 2021 found that Black patients are much more likely to suffer problems related to surgical procedures than white patients in the same hospital.” This quote shows how African American patients are receiving lower quality of healthcare compared to a white patient. Implicit biases and stereotypes can affect decisions made by healthcare providers to alter diagnosis, treatment, and overall health outcomes.Another quote that was found from the PBS article, Sciacca states,”And a study published in January. found that older Black and Hispanic patients with advanced cancer are less likely to receive opioid medications for pain than white patients.” This evidence proves how African American patients along with other minority groups There needs to be concerted efforts put in place to address and eliminate such disparities for equal and quality healthcare service delivery. Everyone deserves equal access to healthcare services and …show more content…
This can prove that patients can lack a good relationship with their physician when they are white. Also, it may lead to discriminatory care, delayed care, or even inadequate care, and it leads to the worsening of health disparities. As seen on YouTube, “Present day personal or intergenerational experiences of discrimination oppression as well as negative encounters with public figures such as law enforcement can all fuel medical mistrust.” (“Racism and Medical Mistrust in Health Care,” 00:04:01-00:04:13) This quote from the video shows where mistrust towards providers stems from for most African American patients. There should be no difference in the availability of services in the clinic as the patient-provider relationship is built on trust, respect, and equal treatment, irrespective of the race or ethnicity. This calls for targeted and sustained measures toward eliminating discrimination as a determinant of whether healthcare is accessible and effective for all
Racial and ethnic inequalities in healthcare results in non-white patients receiving lower quality care that White patients. Additionally, people who speak limited English encounter more communication issues with doctors and nurses that people whose primary language is English. (AHRQ, 2011). Consequently, as people with chronic conditions utilize more healthcare services, they are more likely to complain of issues with the doctor-patient relationship. They feel as though they are not able to participate in their care, their doctors do not allow them to contribute to their medical decisions and they feel like doctors are not disclosing all information related to care. People who encounter this type of cultural ignorance become dissatisfied with their treatment and overall healthcare experience and are at high risk for negative
In conclusion, It it is very necessary that our health care officials try harder to gain trust with minorities so that medicine can be focused more on equality. We all know that for decades our country was very diverse and everyone was treated differently. Although things have changed and it is sometimes important to preserve our past, past actions should not still be carried out. Even today, racism still occurs and it hard for minorities to feel safe when visiting hospitals and doctor’s offices. Minorities should be given equal medical opportunities, be given the honest truth on their diagnosis and treatments and most importantly be given some sort of health care so they can be treated.
Kennedy, B. R., Mathis, C. C., & Woods, A. K. (2007)? African Americans and their distrust of health care system: healthcare for diverse populations. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 14(2), 56-60.
The disparities in the healthcare system contribute to the overall health status disparities that affect ethnic and racial minorities. The sources of ethnic and racial healthcare disparities include cultural barriers, geography differences, or healthcare provider stereotyping. In addition, difficulties in communication between health care providers and patients, lack of access to healthcare providers, and lack of access to adequate health care coverage
Mortality rates among inner city African Americans have a detrimental increase depending on the quality of life from the adolescent stages of growth. African Americans historically have had the highest mortality rates among American racial and ethnic groups.1 The living conditions associated with inner-cities may be a contributing factor along with limited medical facilities and care options along with the lack of education and childhood socioeconomic family disadvantages. Studies have shown these early risk factors may be a major contributor to mortality rates in African American adults later on. Further studies show there are cultural barriers built in the inner city, which hinders the request for help or asking for help within their community.
Health disparity is one of the burdens that contributes to our healthcare system in providing equal healthcare to everyone regarding of race, age, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status to achieve good health. Research reveals that racial and ethnic minorities are likely to receive lower quality of healthcare services than white Americans.
Studies have analyzed how African Americans deal with an enormous amount of disease, injury, death, and disability compared to other ethnic group, and whites, Utilization of health services by African Americans is less frequent than other ethnic groups in the country. This non utilization of services contributes to health disparities amongst African Americans in the United States. Current and past studies have shown that because of discrimination, medical mistrust, racial/ethnic background, and poor communication African Americans tend to not seek medical care unless they are in dire need or forced to seek professional care. African Americans would rather self –medicate than to trust a doctor who might show some type of discriminatory
Phillis Wheatley and Elizabeth Freeman’s actions influenced the American Revolution. Wheatley through her literature, which included poems sent to George Washington and a poem written in regards to King George the third, was able to set an example of how African Americans are intelligent and equal human beings of the American colonies. Elizabeth Wheatley went against all odds to obtain her freedom by suing her slave owner and winning the case in court. Phillis Wheatley and Elizabeth Freeman’s actions during the American Revolution affected what liberty rights they would obtain years after the American Revolution ended.
Healthcare disparities are when there are inequalities or differences of the conditions of health and the quality of care that is received among specific groups of people such as African Americans, Caucasians, Asians, or Hispanics. Not only does it occur between racial and ethnic groups, health disparities can happen between males and females as well. Minorities have the worst healthcare outcomes, higher death rates, and are more prone to terminal diseases. For African American men and women, some of the most common health disparities are diabetes, cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and HIV infections. Some factors that can contribute to disparities are healthcare access, transportation, specialist referrals, and non-effective communication with patients. There is also much racism that still occurs today, which can be another reason African Americans may be mistreated with their healthcare. “Although both black and white patients tended not to endorse the existence of racism in the medical system, African Americans patients were more likely to perceive racism” (Laveist, Nickerson, Bowie, 2000). Over the years, the health care system has made improvements but some Americans, such as African Americans, are still being treating unequally when wanting the same care they desire as everyone else.
Therefore, considering these issues is an impediment when discussing the disparities in health. Some minorities are disadvantaged in the current healthcare while some are not. However, it is complicated to identify reasons for inequalities because health outcome is a result of numerous interactions with factors including the individual’s access to care, the quality of care provided, health behaviors such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, the presence or absence of complicating conditions, and personal attitudes toward health and medicine. Therefore, Examining existing racial and ethnic issues, developing potential solutions for current disparities, and preparing for future challenges as shifts in trends emerge are essential aspects of health care improvements” (Boslaugh,
Heart disease is of utmost and imperative concern in the United States. It stands at the top of the list for causes of death in the U.S., and it can be absolutely devastating (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013). In part one of the health disparities paper, disparity in relation to heart disease was pointed out in those of low socioeconomic status and/or minorities. Part two of this paper has been streamlined towards a more specific minority: African Americans women. The reason for focusing on the African American women population is that there is a huge amount of disparity seen specifically in this group. As of 2009, African Americans as a whole had 30% more of a chance of dying from cardiovascular disease than Caucasians (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Minority Health [OMH], 2012). The rate of Cardiovascular Disease in African American women specifically is higher at 48.9% than the rate of CVD in African American men at 44.4%, showing even greater disparity in African American women (American Heart Association, 2013). The goal of this paper is to identify and appraise two different articles surrounding this topic. Both articles involve an intervention in which similar community prevention programs were implemented in hopes to reduce the risk of CVD in African American women.
In recent discussions of health care disparities, a controversial issue has been whether racism is the cause of health care disparities or not. On one hand, some argue that racism is a serious problem in the health care system. From this perspective, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) states that there is a big gap between the health care quality received by minorities, and the quality of health care received by non-minorities, and the reason is due to racism. On the other hand, however, others argue that health care disparities are not due to racism. In the words of Sally Satel, one of this view’s main proponents, “White and black patients, on average don’t even visit the same population of physicians” (Satel 1), hence this reduces the chances of racism being the cause of health care disparities. According to this view, racism is not a serious problem in the health care system. In sum, then, the issue is whether racism is a major cause of health care disparities as the Institute of Medicine argues or racism is not really an issue in the health care system as suggested by Sally Satel.
Cultural competence in health care provision refers to the capacity of health care systems to offer good care to patients and accommodate employees, who have diverse beliefs, behaviors, and values to meet their cultural, linguistic, and social needs. It comprises of policies, attitudes, and behaviors that integrate to form a system that can operate efficiently in cross cultural conditions. Healthcare organizations look at cultural competence from two major viewpoints. Firstly, it is a tool to enhance patient care from all backgrounds, social groups, languages, religions, and beliefs. Secondly, it is a tool that strategically attracts potential clients to their organizations and, hence, expands
Seeking to position lower socioeconomic status above racial/ethnic biases or vice versa is irresponsible to the goal of eliminating healthcare delivery differences at large. Both these are realities of a group of people who are not receiving the same level of care from the healthcare professionals although they exist within one of the most resource rich countries in the world, the United States. According to House & Williams (2000), “racism restricts and truncates socioeconomic attainment” (page, 106). This alone will hinder good health and spur on disparities as racism reduces the level of education and income as well as the prospect of better jobs. Blacksher (2008) cites the nation’s institutionalized racism as one of the leading factors
Tiffany Johnson states, "Others have suggested that the association of patient-level sociodemographics with postoperative mortality is related to system-level factors, including access to care, location of care, and institution type. This highlights the important intersection of structural racism and social determinants of health with healthcare inequities. " The mortality of social inequities is likely to be caused by a lack of access to healthcare. As said earlier, bias in healthcare can also lead people to lose trust in healthcare providers which can ultimately lead patients to seek alternative methods of treating themselves. Conclusion In conclusion, bias is an issue that needs to be looked at closely, especially when it comes to the possibility of it being present in the healthcare field.