NURS FPX 4050 Factors Contributing to Health, Health Disparities, and Access to Services
Factors Contributing to Health, Health Disparities, and Access to Services
Several factors contribute to health, health disparities and access to healthcare services. One of the factors is poverty. Poverty affects health, access to healthcare services, and acts as a source of health disparities. Poverty affects the population’s ability to access and afford their needed care due to cost constraints. As a result, they are increasingly predisposed to poor health outcomes. The other factor is the level of education. Highly educated people have access to better employment opportunities and remuneration. They also have a high level of awareness about their health needs. The level of education determines population’s health through aspects such as access and affordability of healthcare services. The other factor is insurance coverage. Medical insurance coverage reduces the costs incurred in the care process. It also enhances access to healthcare services since patients do not incur out-of-pocket spending in seeking their needed care. Therefore, lack of medical insurance limits access to high quality care by the population (Serchen et al., 2021). Geographical location is another determinant of health and access to services. The effect can be seen from the fact that rural residents experience challenges in accessing their needed high quality care and specialists due to their distance from centralized healthcare services.
Race/ethnicity also affects health, health disparities and access to healthcare services. Ethnic minority groups often experience considerable challenges in accessing and utilizing healthcare services. Factors such as unemployment, poverty, and lack of medical insurance coverage are more prevalent in ethnic minority groups, which predispose them to health inequalities in the state. Disability also affects health, health disparities, and access to healthcare services (Stormacq et al., 2019). The disabled often experience challenges in accessing equal employment opportunities as the other populations in the societies. The lack of adequate access to such opportunities predisposes them socioeconomic challenges that affect their access, affordability, and utilization of healthcare services. Age is also another determinant of health, health disparities, and utilization of healthcare services. The young and elderly are highly predisposed to health problems due to their weak immune systems. They also do play an active role in roles that improve their socioeconomic statuses in the society. As a result, the risk of poor health outcomes among them is high due to difficulties in accessing and affording the care that they need (Stormacq et al., 2019).
Ethical and Policy Issues in Care Coordination
Several ethical and policy issues affect care coordination and continuum of care in nursing homes. One of them is fairness and justice. Care coordination and policy initiatives should ensure equity in access to and utilization of the existing resources. Patients should receive equal treatment without a consideration of factors beyond the medical reasons. The other ethical issue in care coordination is beneficence. Care coordination should aim at doing good to the patients (Dang & Dearholt, 2018). The care given to patients and adopted policies should aim at promoting the overall wellbeing of the patients, their families and communities at large. There is also the need to ensure accountability. The stakeholders involved in care coordination should be held accountable and responsible for their actions. The implication is that the healthcare providers involved in care coordination will be keen to ensure safety, quality, and efficiency in care coordination process. The other ethical factor is respecting patient’s autonomy. Nurses and other healthcare providers involved in care coordination should respect the decisions, values, and preferences of their patients. Patients must retain their opinions, views, and values that relate to their health and wellbeing. Therefore, nurses and other healthcare providers should not coerce patients in the care coordination process to make specific decisions (Dang & Dearholt, 2018).
The other ethical issue in care coordination is veracity. The healthcare providers involved in care coordination should be truthful to each other and their patients. Patients have the right to truthful and accurate information about their health problems, as it helps them in making informed decisions about ways of addressing their needs (Dang & Dearholt, 2018). The other ethical issue is adequate staffing policies. Healthcare organizations involved in care coordination should have adequate staff to eliminate issues such as high workload that lower the quality of patient care. Interventions such as interdisciplinary collaboration should be considered to enhance the efficiency of care coordination interventions