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Health disparities Instructions: Reply to a classmate. Each reply should be at least a paragraph long. The response is a substantive interaction that builds on the ideas of others, delving deeper into the discussion question and course content in response to a colleague. The response includes one reference from a professional peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Each response
Reply To Diana T-V
Health disparities refer to differences in specific populations within a certain region in full attainment of health potential, which can be measured through the existing differences in prevalence, incidence, the burden of diseases, mortality, and adverse health conditions. This term disparity is usually used to refer to the difference in gender, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability status, and geographic location. Healthy People 2020, combining all these factors with ethnicity and age, shapes people’s abilities to achieve optimal health (van Daalen et al., 2020). The health disparity that is discussed in this essay is gender disparits.ie
Gender disparities cuts across a wide area within the US population. This disparity is biological since some diseases tend to affect only one gender. For instance, diseases like ovarian cancer only affect women, and prostate cancer affects men only. The life expectancy for women and men differs significantly. According to the 2014 report, women have an average life expectancy of 81.2 years while men had a6.4 years. Over the years since 2094-2014, the life expectancy between men and women reduced from 5.1-4.8 years. Recent studies have shown that women in the US have increased death rates compared to men, leading to a decreased life expectancy. An increase in these deaths is attributed to obesity, suicide, accidental poisoning, and smoking. When planning for patient care, it is very important to consider the type of care that will address the needs of each gender (Manuel, 2018). The needs of men are different from those of women.
To reduce the health disparities experienced by various populations in the US, a nurse practitioner can create awareness of those diseases that affects only a particular type of gender. Besides, the campaign against ovarian and prostate cancer can be carried out to sensitize the population about these diseases (Li et al., 2020). Furthermore, the nurse can strengthen therapeutic relationships that are built in different gender to ensure that they are well treated and managed. Health disparities
References
Li, M., Schulz, R., Chisholm-Burns, M., Wang, J., & Lu, Z. K. (2020). Racial/ethnic and gender disparities in the use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents and blood transfusions: cancer management under Medicare’s reimbursement policy. Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy, 26(11), 1477–1486. https://doi.org/10.18553/jmcp.2020.26.11.1477
Manuel J. I. (2018). Racial/Ethnic and Gender Disparities in Health Care Use and Access. Health services research, 53(3), 1407–1429. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.12705
van Daalen, K., Jung, L., Dhatt, R., & Phelan, A. L. (2020). Climate change and gender-based health disparities. The Lancet. Planetary health, 4(2), e44–e45. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30001-2
Reply to Lina Health disparities
Health disparities are a problem that has been ongoing for centuries and is considered injustice. Discrimination is part of health disparities that affect people’s health. Individuals or groups suffer unwarranted harm due to socially structured acts, which is known as discrimination. Discrimination is associated with economic stability, education, healthcare, neighborhood, built environment, and social and community contexts (Healthy People, 2020). Unfair treatment can happen both at individual and structural levels and may emerge in the form of residential segregation, limitations to resource allocation, racial profiling, and limited access to healthcare services (ANA, 2018). Discrimination can cause significant morbidity because it has far-reaching psychological impacts as a social stressor and may lead to conditions or worsening of illnesses like diabetes, anxiety, and cardiovascular conditions (Noonan et al., 2016). It is common among U.S. adults, about 31% experiencing at least one case of discrimination, while 63% face unfair treatment daily (Health People, 2020). Racial minorities, transgender and LGBT, and the elderly are more prone to discrimination. Race, for instance, has been a significant determinant of health.
Nurse practitioners, therefore, have a critical role in helping to bridge the gap that discrimination brings between the patient and access to quality care. The less privileged are more prone to getting poor health outcomes due to structural disparities. Even as the Affordable Care Act was designed to create equal access to healthcare irrespective of race, ethnicity, and other social factors, it is unfortunate that minority groups still have the most significant difficulty of diseases like cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases (Andermann, 2016). In order to address such disparities, nurses ought to understand, identify, and respond to barriers that lead to discrimination and disparities in healthcare for diverse populations (ANA, 2018). One way to achieve this is by being their patient’s advocate and promoting social justice while also enhancing accountability on the social, cultural, and economic aspects (Noonan et al., 2016). Nurses can also participate in screening and health promotion activities to prevent ill health and improve outcomes at the community level by collaborating with community leaders.
References
American Nurses Association (ANA). (2018). ANA position statement: The nurse’s role in addressing discrimination: Protecting and promoting inclusive strategies in practice settings, policy, and advocacy. (2019). OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 24(3). https://doi.org/10.3912/ojin.vol24no03poscol01 (Links to an external site.)
Andermann, A. (2016). Taking action on the social determinants of health in clinical practice: A framework for health professionals. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 188(17-18), E474-E483. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.160177 (Links to an external site.)
Healthy People (2020). Social determinants of health: Discrimination. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-health/interventions-resources/discrimination (Links to an external site.)
Noonan, A. S., Velasco-Mondragon, H. E., & Wagner, F. A. (2016). Improving the health of African Americans in the USA: An overdue opportunity for social justice. Public Health Reviews, 37(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-016-0025-4
Reply to Sheika
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines social determinant as the condition someone is born, grow, work and age (Raingruber,2017). Social determinants can include education, economic status, employment, affordable housing, food security, and much more; they automatically place one’s health and quality of life in disadvantage to one another. Raingruber (2017) wrote that there have been as significant relationship between ones ‘income/education and health. It is such a grave aspect to health that the WHO created a Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) to tackle the issue globally (Raingruber, 2017).
Food insecurity, one of the social determinants, is not only defined by a complete absence of food, but it is also characterized by the lack of availability, quality, and access to food (Grenier & Wynn, 2018). It is a growing concern in the United States; moreover, good nutrition has direct impact to ones’ health. According to Grenier and Wynn (2018) 41.2 million of Americans were dealing with food insecurity in 2016 due to unforeseen circumstances. A group of three nurses created Rush Surplus Project at Rush Oak Park Hospital (ROPH) where the idea of packaging wasted food from the hospital was explored (Grenier & Wynn, 2018). As the project was implemented, ROPH became partners in detecting physical and financial resources to initiate the project.
One intervention that Advanced Practice nurses can implement could be stressing the importance of health screening to communities’ members through education. They could also research about different available resources in the communities for appropriate referrals. It is also important to conduct thorough assessment and provide proper referral to social workers for a continuum of care. Additionally, it is imperative to tailor treatments and interventions to specific cultural group (Raingruber,2017). To provide culturally appropriate care, they would have to be culturally competent.
References
Raingruber, B. (2017). Contemporary health promotion: In nursing practice (2nd ed.).
Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Grenier, J., & Wynn, N. (2018). A nurse-led intervention to address food insecurity in
Chicago. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(3), 1.
https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol23No03Man04