Ahnyana Mills Final Writing Assignments Honors Seminar II Dr. Miller. An urgent examination of the disparities in healthcare inside hospitals is crucial to comprehend and rectify the systemic inequities in healthcare delivery. This study aims to urgently examine how healthcare inequalities affect various patient groups, including unequal access to services, varying treatment outcomes, and differences in the quality of care. An urgent investigation of several characteristics, such as socioeconomic status, race or ethnicity, language challenges, geographic location, and insurance coverage, is necessary to understand the urgent and complex disparities in hospital treatment needs. These urgent characteristics may lead to variations in therapeutic …show more content…
This stark reality underscores the fact that various patient cohorts encounter varying levels of treatment results, service quality, and access to healthcare resources. It also highlights the many aspects of healthcare inequalities, such as those associated with socioeconomic status, racial/ethnic background, language barriers, and institutional policies that result in uneven treatment and health outcomes. It is imperative that we acknowledge and rectify these systemic disparities in the healthcare system to enhance patient outcomes and promote healthcare equity. As an individual with African ancestry, I can deeply and personally attest that healthcare inequalities in our healthcare system are a multifaceted and concerning problem. My specialized expertise and experience in this domain have exposed me to the inequalities in access to services, quality of treatment, and health outcomes that individuals from various socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds face. Numerous structural factors, such as limited access to healthcare facilities, inadequate health insurance coverage, and socioeconomic factors that have persisted for a long time, may explain the …show more content…
As healthcare practitioners, it is our duty to identify and rectify these inequalities, advocate for equitable care, and work towards a healthcare system that prioritizes the welfare of all individuals, irrespective of their background or socioeconomic status. Based on my own experience, I can confidently assert that there are evident gender differences in healthcare. Obtaining medical care has become more challenging for me due to the intersection of gender and race. One of the challenges I face in my pursuit of sufficient and fair healthcare is a lack of easily accessible, top-notch medical treatments. The prevalence of institutional prejudices and presumptions that influence my interaction with medical workers is yet another challenge. I see each of these hurdles as an impediment. In addition to impacting my own well-being, these variances underscore the inherent deficiencies in the healthcare system that lead to inequality. I am deeply concerned by the absence of cultural competency or expertise within the healthcare system to effectively address the specific health requirements of black women. It is crucial that medical practitioners are always knowledgeable about the particular health issues, living
The absence of cultural competency in some health care providers, lack of community perspective integration in health care facilities, and low quality health care received by women in developing countries.These are the three most pressing health care concerns that need to be addressed in our ever changing world. The first of the issues I’ll be discussing is the lack of cultural competency amongst health care providers, as well as the shortage of education and training in cultural competency. As we all know and see the United States is a racially and ethnically diverse nation which means our health care providers need to be equipped with the necessary education and training to be able to provide for diverse populations. As an East African
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.
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
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
Racial disparities in The United States health care system are widespread and well documented. Social and economic inequalities between racial minorities and their white counter parts have lead to lower life expectancy rates, higher infant mortality rates, and overall poorer health for people of color. As the nation’s population continues to become increasingly diverse, these disparities are likely to grow if left unaddressed. The Affordable Care Act includes various provisions that specifically aim to reduce inequalities for racially and ethnically marginalized groups. These include provisions in the Senate bill and House bill that aim to expand coverage, boost outreach and education programs, establish standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate practices, and diversify the health care workforce. The ACA, while not a perfect solution for eliminating health disparities, serves as an important first step and an unprecedented opportunity to improve health equity in the United States.
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,
The goal within the United States government is to treat each individual as an equal citizen. Unfortunately, through the inadequate practice of public policies people have been treated unequal because of natural conditions and the countries social environment. In health policy, the two concepts that cause unequal treatment are health disparities and health differences. Health disparities are resulted from social factors that are avoidable and unjust. For example, saying ovarian cancer death rates are higher because men have better research on prostate cancer (Smith, 2016). “The extent and nature of health disparities changes over the life course” (Adler, 2008, p. 241). Health differences are inherently biological being completely natural and
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.
Despite the substantial developments in diagnostic and treatment processes, there is convincing evidence that ethnic and racial minorities normally access and receive low quality services compared to the majority communities (Lum, 2011). As such, minority groups have higher mortality and morbidity rates arising from both preventable and treatable diseases judged against the majority groups. Elimination of both racial and ethnic disparities is mainly politically sensitive, but plays an important role in the equitable access of services, including the health care ones without discrimination. In addition, accountability, accessibility, and availability of equitable health care services are crucial for the continually growing
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
Introduction: Bias is something that is becoming more and more prevalent in the world today. Bias can be described as either being for or against something in a way that is usually considered unfair or unequal. Bias in healthcare can lead to some individuals not receiving the proper care needed and may even harm the individual even more. It can also affect how data gets retrieved about groups of people and the trust people put in the healthcare industry. This paper will discuss bias in healthcare data, how healthcare bias impacts data-driven algorithms in healthcare, and how bias in healthcare can impact social inequities.
The idea that the successful health and health care organizations of the future will be those that can simultaneously deliver excellent quality of care, at lower total costs, while improving the health of their population is taking hold. The main reason is because of health disparities. Addressing health disparities has been a challenge for decades. This paper will look at a few examples of how health disparities can affect individually, thus the overall health of a population.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) also analyse some inequalities in the unequal treatment challenging ethnic and racial differences in health care which revealed that BAME of different backgrounds often experienced different levels of care even when all other factors such as wellbeing, salary, and insurance protection remained equal (Harmsen et al,2008). Improving high quality service user care could lessen the gaps in the quality of care of patient - centred health care is dependent on health providers ability by understanding patients’ needs, be an active listener and ensuring the service user understand the health professionals advise