The Role of Informatics in Decreasing Health Disparities - Essay Example

? The Role in Informatics in Decreasing Health Disparities June 7, Health disparities refer to preventable difference in the burden of injury, disease, violence, or opportunities to attain optimal health experienced by marginalized populations in society (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011, para. 1). The disparities influence how often a group of people are affected by a given disease, the number that falls sick, and even how often the disease causes death. This paper seeks to discuss the role of informatics in improving health disparities. Disparities occur in different populations and are often along ethnic and racial minorities, residents of rural areas; women, children and the elderly; as well as persons with disabilities (MedilinePlus, 2012, para. 2). In addition, health disparities are the result of poverty, environmental threats, inadequate access to health care, individual and behavioral factors as well as educational inequalities (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011, para. 2). The healthcare provider also causes these disparities. This is to mean that; some healthcare providers and specialists treat racial and ethnic minorities as lesser humans as compared to their frequent clients. This leads to the minorities seeking alternative healthcare in lowly performing hospitals and clinics. It, also, leads to minority groups seeking medical attention from medical institutions that are understaffed, and have lesser budgets to cater to needs of their patients, as well as lack of specialized, technical support. Culture and language also inhibit access to healthcare. This is in regard to the fact and the possibility that they may not be in a position to speak and understand the language used in healthcare facilities in a given area. As a result, there is poor communication and the minorities end up suffering the consequences of their ailments. Language barrier is the outcome of lack of interpreters and bilingual staff as well as lack of adequate funds for language services. Disparities in healthcare are also caused by the socioeconomic status of the individuals. Individuals with more income, better quality education and occupational status, have better health status as compared those who lack the above. Socioeconomic status steps in reference to life expectancy, access to health facilities and lifestyles. Lifestyle diseases, such as obesity and ailments from smoking, are more common in individuals who only have a high school education. Healthcare disparities can be as a result of geographical disparities, as well. This is as in cases where certain populations, minority, live outside metropolitan areas because they are poor. Recent research by shows that healthcare is delivered locally (to populations who are within reach), and thus those outside the metropolis are not able to access it. The effects of geographic locations were explained by a study on revascularization procedures where certain neighborhoods had fewer cases (Frist, 2005, para. 9). These neighborhoods were inhabited by minority groups of blacks and Hispanics. Ethnically and racially, health disparities have been found in six main areas: infant mortality, cancer screening and management, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, immunizations and infections of HIV and AIDS (Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities, 2009, para. 5). Infant mortality refers to cases where children die before the age of five years and is a common disparity in regard to health. Cancer screening has its share of disparities when it comes to treatment of parties suffering from the condition. This is specially so ethnically and racially as more African-American minorities suffer and die from it as compared to those from other races and ethnic groups. In cardiovascular diseases, despite being a leading killer among all races and ethnicities, they are more common among black minorities. With this more African-Americans die from heart conditions than whites. A report on diabetes, conducted by The Centre for Disease Control, took into consideration 18.2 million of which 13 million had been diagnosed with diabetes, and the rest were undiagnosed. The number included all ages from children to adults. In regard to racial and ethnic factors, diabetes was found to mainly affect non-Hispanic whites at 12.5 % of the entire population (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011, para 6-8). Other minority population; blacks and Hispanics were ranked second and third respectively at 2.7 million and 2.0 million. Other groups such as Indians and Asian Americans filled the remainder of the minorities. Diabetes, in the United States, puts diabetics at a higher risk of suffering strokes and heart disease. Putting into consideration that heart disease is more common among blacks; more blacks are at mortal risk due to healthcare disparities. In order to improve the situation that has been presented by disparities in healthcare, measures must be taken. Legislation can bridge the gap that has been created by disparity. This can be done by introducing bills such as the Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination act that was introduced to the 110th congress (Swirsky, n.d., 112). The aim of the bill was to fund grants meant to increase the number of minority health professionals. The bill was, also, meant to support demonstration projects aimed at improving healthcare for racial minorities, as well as fund research to improve the health of racial and ethnic minorities. Legislation has been to work towards reduction of healthcare disparities in states like Maryland (Webb & Hairston, 2011, para. 12). The American health sector has blamed disparities in health care, exclusively, on racial and ethnic issues. Providers have, therefore, been blamed for being racist in providing health care to minority groups. Healthcare, as a result, should be focused on equality so that, discrimination of any kind is not tolerated. Also, on patient centered care, health providers should provide the best recommendations so that the patients help in managing the ailments or disease. This is specially so chronic diseases brought about by issues of lifestyle such as diabetes and obesity. Improving personal responsibility by offering such recommendations reduces the person’s risky behavior and thus disparities can be reduced. For example, accidents, strokes and heart disease are common killers of African-Americans, by providing recommendation how to avoid accidents, individuals take responsibility over their well being; and disparities decrease. Since communication is one of the causes of health disparities, there is a need to overcome al communication and language barriers between patients and health providers. According to the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, in the year 2000, there are standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services (Swirsky, n.d., 110). Measures have been taken, as a result of these standards, to provide language assistance; in the form of bilingual staff and interpreters to patients at no cost. These language services are meant to help patients with limited proficiency in English. Also, a literacy survey shows that a majority of American adults have difficulty reading written text (Frist, 2005, para. 16) thus cannot read prescriptions. This means that they also have difficulty in managing chronic diseases due to inadequate and limited knowledge on them. Disparities may also be overcome by improving the overall quality of healthcare. Improvement means that even healthcare to minority groups will be better and will aid in closing the gap between all. Information and technology should be adopted in healthcare provision to cut on disparities by using it to collect data on minorities. The use of electronic health records capture information relevant to the treatment of patients as well as help in following up on their treatment (Swirsky, n.d., 111). For minority groups, this data is crucial to ensuring that there are not marginalized by paying attention to their needs. In addition, the same information can be used to monitor, assess and evaluate disparities in healthcare. As a result, disparities are minimized and regulated to a given standard. Disparities in healthcare deny many individuals access to quality healthcare. The ability to track the causes, assess and evaluate the disparities is important in overcoming the disparities. References MedilinePlus. (05 June 2012). Health disparities. Retrieved on June 7, 2012 from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthdisparities.html Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (June 6, 2011). Health Disparities. Retrieved on June 7, 2012 from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/disparities/index.htm Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities (OMHD). (Mar.17, 2009). Eliminating Racial & Ethnic Health Disparities. Retrieved on June 7, 2012 from http://www.cdc.gov/omhd/about/disparities.htm Frist, W. (March 2005). Overcoming Disparities in U.S. Healthcare. vol. 24 no. 2 445-451. Retrieved on June 7, 2012 from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/2/445.full Swirsky, L. (n.d.) Covering Health Issues: Disparities. Retrieved on June 7, 2012 from http://www.allhealth.org/covering-health-issues-5th-edition/pdfs/Chapter-10-Disparities.pdf Webb, B., Simpson, S. L., & Hairston, K. G. (2011). From Politics to Parity: Using a Health Disparities Index to Guide Legislative Efforts for Health Equity. American Journal Of Public Health, 101(3), 554-560. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.171157 Read More