Applying Library Research Skills
Sekieta Farris
Capella University
Developing a Health Care Perspective: NHS-FPX 4000
Laura Harden
19 February 2022
Applying Library Research Skills
Despite all the attempts that have been put in place to combat it, health disparities still plague health care, and pose a threat to the achievement of optimal health outcomes, specifically for underprivileged communities. Healthcare disparities are the differences and variations in the provision of healthcare that ultimately affect the health of the population in question. These disparities affect access to care, the kind and quality of care received and ultimately, the outcomes of the populations affected by the disparities. As a nurse, health disparities have a significant impact on nursing practice. Not only does it interfere with the ethical obligation of justice that all nurses are bound by, the diminished access to care caused by disparities increases the burden to a system that has already been significantly burdened. Addressing health disparities will have a tremendous impact on the population and on nursing. First, addressing health disparities will improve the health outcomes of society and reduce the costs of the discoveries that have been borne to date. Furthermore, with the optimal outcomes, the burdens to the healthcare system, and most especially to nurses, will also be lessened and this may go a long way in reducing the impact of the nursing shortage in the country.
As a nurse serving in a diverse community, I have experienced the impacts of healthcare disparities in my patients. For instance, some populations are at a higher risk of developing and dying from chronic diseases as they have lived in underserved populations. For instance, I see a lot of African American patients being brought in due to conditions such as aortic dissection resulting from untreated hypertension. These patients live in medically underserved areas, and also like the time and resources needed to travel in order to seek care. This is just one of the many different manifestations of healthcare disparities that have to be addressed.
Identifying Academic Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
To identify the resources to be used in this project, the Summon search engine was used to crawl the data based within Capella University's Library. The keywords used in the search were: ‘health disparities, healthcare disparities, disparities in care and disparities.’ In order to further filter the results, I used advanced search options to filter the search by date of publication, peer-reviewed journals and nursing being the subject.
Assessing Credibility and Relevance of Information Sources
In order to develop the appropriate catalog of sources, it is vital to ensure that the sources are credible. To assess the credibility of these sources, the first step was assessing whether the sources are from peer-reviewed journals. This was guaranteed seeing as one of the filters used to limit the search was peer-review. The second criteria was the currency of the sources. To guarantee the currency of sources, the search limited articles to the last 5 years. The final tenet relevance of the source which means assessing whether the information met the needs of the search. The issue being explored in this paper is healthcare disparities and thus, to ensure that the sources were relevant to this project, the abstract for each article was read in order to ascertain the content of the source.
Annotated Bibliography
Arpey, N. C., Gaglioti, A. H., & Rosenbaum, M. E. (2017). How socioeconomic status affects patient perceptions of health care: A Qualitative Study. Journal of primary care & community health, 8(3), 169–175. https://doi.org/10.1177/2150131917697439
This article by Arpey et al. (20170 sought to explore the impact of socioeconomic status on patient perception of health care . This was based on finding of previous studies that the socioeconomic status of the population influences not only their health outcomes but also the health care they receive, with people of lower socio-economic status as being likely to have worse self-perceptions of health, low life expectancy and also likely to suffer more chronic conditions. The researchers therefore conducted a qualitative study to investigate this phenomenon. The researchers conducted in-depth interviews of 80 individuals enrolled in a Medicaid program. The study found that most of the subjects of the study perceived that socio-economic status did indeed affect their health. The rationale for their conclusion is based on the fact that their socio economics status determined the treatment they receive, access to care and the interaction they had with their providers. This study therefore raised the need to pursue health equity targeting both healthcare providers and the health system at large in order to address disparities.
Butler A. M. (2017). Social Determinants of Health and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Type 2 Diabetes in Youth. Current diabetes reports, 17(8), 60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-017-0885-0
Butler (2017) sought to explore current literature on racial and ethnic disparities in youth onset Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. According to Butler (2017), literature on ethnic disparities associated with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus indicates that even though there is minimal research on the racial and ethnic disparities for patients with this population, there is evidence to suggest that racial and ethnic minorities experience disparities in glycemic control and its comorbidities. Furthermore, the study established that for children and youth with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, some other common sources of disparities included the income of the family, low levels of education for the parents and finally, stress in the youth. Based on these findings, there is a need to go beyond addressing the healthcare system as it is vital to address social factors that would increase a patient’s propensity towards these conditions. For instance, empowering the youth with mechanisms to cope with stress would play a role in reducing their prevalence to the conditions.
Myers C. R. (2019). Using Telehealth to Remediate Rural Mental Health and Healthcare Disparities. Issues in mental health nursing, 40(3), 233–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2018.1499157
According to Myers (2019), one of the biggest contributors to health disparities is poor access to care especially in medically underserved communities, The author goes further to state that rural communities are more likely to be affected by lack of access and thus, they have more prevalent deaths of despair which are deaths due to suicide, alcohol and suicide. Myers (2019) therefore sought to explore the potential viability of telehealth to remediate mental health and healthcare disparities in rural populations. According to the article, Telehealth is a viable option for addressing mental health care needs in rural areas as it facilitated effective care management, in addition to providing improved access to services, in addition to ensuring that primary and mental health services are integrated. Myers (2019) however cautions that implementing telehealth will come with certain challenges such as those involving coverage and reimbursements access to broadband and issue of privacy and security. Most importantly, Myers (2020) states that these changes will also call for proper training of healthcare provider to help them better offer remote care to patients.
Wang, E., Glazer, K. B., Howell, E. A., & Janevic, T. M. (2020). Social Determinants of Pregnancy-Related Mortality and Morbidity in the United States: A Systematic Review. Obstetrics and gynecology, 135(4), 896–915. https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000003762
The objective of this systematic review was to explore literature on the associations between social determinants of health and mortality and morbidity in pregnant women, in addition to exploring the opportunities of intervention and also future research opportunities. The study was conducted by means of systematic review using Medline Ovid, CINAHL, Popline and Scopus as the main databases. The studies admitted into the review were 83. According to Wang et al. (2020), the major social determinants of health that influence healthcare disparities among the pregnant are race, ethnicity, insurance and education.
Summary of the findings
Based on these studies, healthcare disparities are indeed alive and a barrier to the achievement of optimal health outcomes in the society. The studies illustrate social and economic factors such as level of education, levels of stress, income and even location as the major determinants. This project has also established that in order to address healthcare disparities, it is important to institute changes in the healthcare system, by improving access such as through telemedicine. However, it is also vital to ensure that social factors such as perceptions and mental health are addressed in order to mitigate these implications.
References
Arpey, N. C., Gaglioti, A. H., & Rosenbaum, M. E. (2017). How socioeconomic status affects patient perceptions of health care: A Qualitative Study. Journal of primary care & community health, 8(3), 169–175. https://doi.org/10.1177/2150131917697439
Butler A. M. (2017). Social Determinants of Health and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Type 2 Diabetes in Youth. Current diabetes reports, 17(8), 60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-017-0885-0
Myers C. R. (2019). Using Telehealth to Remediate Rural Mental Health and Healthcare Disparities. Issues in mental health nursing, 40(3), 233–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2018.1499157
Wang, E., Glazer, K. B., Howell, E. A., & Janevic, T. M. (2020). Social Determinants of Pregnancy-Related Mortality and Morbidity in the United States: A Systematic Review. Obstetrics and gynecology, 135(4), 896–915. https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000003762