The Influence Of Adversity And Health Care

Unfortunately, the world we live is a far cry from perfect. We have all types of barriers and roadblocks that we must face and attempt to overcome on a daily basis. When dealing with healthcare, these barriers and roadblocks can be much scarier – and in some cases even deadly. These barriers are not limited to only language, but also to differences in cultures as well.

Some practical obstacles that hinder the delivery of proficient and economical services include differences in language, cultural and knowledge of health issues. However, the prudent advanced practice nurse (APN) considers these obstacles to communication when providing patient-centered care. Nevertheless, when language barriers are not addressed, the provision of quality care to patient and families are undermined, which then transcends to both economic and ethical dilemmas. According to the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC, 2016), the gateway to healthcare is often hindered to a great extent by the lack of the ability to communicate medical necessities due to language barrier. In any clinical setting, efficient patient communication is essential in the delivery and accessibility of quality care and safety.

The following literature review will address the challenges that the Latino population experience when navigating the healthcare system. The review will discuss the inequalities that exist within the healthcare system based on quality healthcare delivery, insurance coverage, language barriers, acculturation, and citizenship status. In the first section, I will discuss the importance of quality healthcare delivery based on the current research that has been done regarding to the Latino population. In the second section, I will discuss the importance of insurance coverage and the impact that it has on the Latino population on navigating the healthcare system. In the third section, I will discuss the language barriers and how that affects the Latino population experience when navigating the healthcare system and the need for bilingual healthcare providers. In the fourth section, I will talk about acculturation and the effects that it has over Latinos health and their experience on navigating the healthcare system. In the last section, I will discuss how citizenship status shapes access to healthcare to Latinos and navigating the healthcare system.

A vital foundation for a high-quality care delivery is an efficacious communication between the patient and the healthcare providers (Gengler & Jarrell, 2015). Fadiman (1997) recounted the conflict between a refugee family from Laos and a small hospital in California over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong girl with severe epilepsy, in her book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Despite both sides wanting the best care for Lia, the lack of cross-cultural communication between her Hmong family and her American doctors, lead to her tragedy (Fadiman, 1997). Awareness regarding the disparities in culture and language of our patient with ours and how to address them should be taken into account when providing healthcare since the life of a

When clinically assessing patients in care settings, it is paramount for health professionals to elicit pertinent information that could be crucial for delivery of care. This is particularly important in the United States because the increasing diversity in racial and ethnic composition of the population has presented cultural challenges that care givers must navigate to provide culturally competent service. Cultural competence during delivery of care requires sensitivity to the cultural, social, and linguistic needs of patients (Betancourt, Green, Carrillo, 2002). As a consequence, care providers need cultural assessment tools that will enable them

Department of Health,” 2011). The United States is composed of many different groups of people and diverse cultures. It is unfortunate that even today someone’s culture or race is a factor in determining the health care they receive and the quality of the care they receive (“Eliminating

Mitchell (2015) discovered that, compared to white Americans, those who are uninsured or underinsured tend to lack regular sources and access to care and receive poor quality of care. About 50% of these individuals are “in lower socioeconomic brackets [with] limited education in historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, who have . . . experienced oppression, discrimination, and social and economic inequalities. [Consequently,] they experience higher rates of disease,

The United States is a culturally diverse country that bring forth many differences in health care beliefs and practices. Culture plays an important role in healthcare because it can influence how patients understand their health, how certain illnesses are treated, and how patients can make decisions related to their health. Culture is defined as a “particular society’s entire way of living, encompassing shared patterns of belief, feeling, and knowledge that guide people’s conduct and are passed down from generation to generation” (Townsend, 2015a, p. 96). In other words, culture explains how people think, do, and respond to situations pertaining to their social, emotional, spiritual, and physical wellbeing. More importantly, cultural issues play a major role in patient compliance. Therefore, health care professionals must

Respect, effective communication, empathy, and morality are the cornerstones of cultural competency. Healthcare professionals are advocates for patients and learning the beliefs, behaviors, and being sensitive to other’s way of life is critical in patient care. Obstacles for culturally competent care include xenophobia, prejudice, bigotry, stereotyping, as well as an aversion or misunderstanding of western medicine within the US healthcare system due to an unfamiliarity or a lack of knowledge of practices. It is imperative that one puts their own judgements and assumptions aside, a positive rapport is built, and effective communication is always achieved when caring for patients to ensure the best possible care is given. It is a healthcare

Limited access to health care for Spanish Speaking populations is due to inability to afford services, difficulty with transportation, dissatisfaction with services, language barriers and inability to understand treatment plans. Health indicators of Spanish Speaking populations suggests that health outcomes continue to be behind other population groups, they also remain below goals established by Healthy People 2010 (Butler, Kim-Godwwin, & Fox, 2008). The US Spanish Speaking population represents a particular vulnerable subset of US Hispanics that have lower-income, less education, poor perceived health status and poor access to the health care System (Dubar & Gizlice, 2008).

In addition, Hispanics, Blacks, and some Asian are less likely than non-Hispanic Whites to have a high school education or better healthcare. Some Differences in quality of care this groups have in common: Blacks received worse care than Whites for 41% of quality measures. Hispanics received worse care than non-Hispanic Whites for 39% of measures. Poor people received worse care than high-income people for 47% of measures. Inequalities in access are also common, especially among Hispanics and poor people: Blacks had worse access to care than Whites for 32% of access measures. Asians had worse access to care than Whites for 17% of access measures. Hispanics had worse access to care than non-Hispanic Whites for 63% of access measures. Poor people had worse access to care than high-income people for 89% of access

Furthermore, the literature used consists of level V and VI of evidence (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2013). This included three peer-reviewed, scholarly articles that were level V evidence, systematic reviews of qualitative studies. Additionally, there were two articles that were level VI evidence, a single qualitative study. A limitation to one of the studies by Ginieniewicz & McKenzie (2014) is that they are focusing on a specific immigrant population, Latin Americans in Canada. Two of the articles, written by Chadwick & Collins (2015) and Lum, Swartz, & Kwan (2016) emphasize the importance of language barriers in primary care, rather than specifically mental health. When discussing the language barriers there was an insufficient amount of detail about the language proficiency and which areas that needed to be met in order to successfully have a conversation between the health care practitioner and the client without confusion. Brisset et al. (2013) is the only article which discusses the different type of

There are many barriers that may affect how immigrants seek health care. This week we are able to research factors that contribute to Filipino-American health-seeking behaviors. First let’s consider communication. “Despite the high level of self-rated English language proficiency in this population, some participants wrote about difficulty in communication and understanding Australian accents as personal barriers in using health services” (Maneze, DiGiacomo, Salamonson, Descallar & Davidson, 2015, p. 5). It can become very frustrating for the health care takers and the patient, when unable to clearly understand each other. “A cultural characteristic of Filipino Americans is minimizing the impact or presence of illness” (Maneze et al.,

Language and culture are interconnected. Specifically, language is one of the ways in which different cultures express their beliefs and customs. The acknowledgement that language is more than just the words one uses, highlights the significant problem of language barriers in the US healthcare system. Lopez relied on several sources to signify a few of the sociocultural factors like language barriers have on treatment utilization (2014). Lopez argued that insufficient “bicultural” and “bilingual” healthcare providers left certain minority groups like Latinos at a disadvantage; the inability of family members to effectively communicate and interact with providers may negatively impact treatment sessions and the health outcomes of autistic children

With the increasing immigrant population a third barrier affecting access to health care is a cultural barrier. Culture barriers can include values and beliefs, language and race and ethnicity. Health beliefs and behavior can become a barrier when patients decide not to seek medical treatment and instead turn to home remedies and healers when treating illnesses. Approximately 10% of Americans speak a language other than English and can be classified ad being limited in their proficiency. For these patients language becomes a barrier and they are less likely to receive optimal medical treatment (Flores, 2006). Horton and Johnson (2010) stress the importance of communication in reducing disparities and increasing the trust of patients in the health care system. As reported by the American College of Physicians, evidence reveals that racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to receive inferior care when compared with non-minorities. This occurs even when minorities have access to insurance and adequate income (Racial and ethnic disparities in health care, 2010).