IDENTIFYING/DEMOGRAPHIC DATA: Isabella is a 23-year-old Hispanic female. She has
Reply to the post with references National Healthcare Issue The healthcare issue I selected is that of access to primary and specialty care within the healthcare community. As a nurse who works in a highly specialized neurological and neurosurgical sector of medicine, this is incredibly important to me as a nurse and plays an important role in the overall outcomes of my patients. Access to preventative and specialized healthcare is crucial to the management of neurological conditions. Social Determinants Affecting Access to Specialty Care Black, Hispanic, Indigenous and Native persons, those of a lower socioeconomic class, and those who live in otherwise under-resourced communities are much less likely to have access to primary and specialty care (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). This is despite the fact that neurological conditions are now considered to be the leading cause of poor health and disability worldwide, with men being more affected than women (World Health Organization, 2024). Those in rural communities are also presented with the challenge of having access to primary and specialty care. Smoking, obesity rates, sedentary lifestyles, mental illness, and mortality rates increase with increased rurality, all of which are contributors to neurological injury and illness (Cyr et al., 2019). Inadequate health insurance coverage is one of the largest barriers to health care access. There is a large, unequal distribution of coverage that contributes to the overall healthcare disparities in regards to health care access. Increased out of pocket fees and the threat of large amounts of medical debt lead to individuals to forego seeking the primary and specialty care that is necessary to manage acute and chronic conditions (Access to Health Services, n.d.). I have found this to be incredibly prominent in the neurological and neurosurgical fields of medicine. Under insured individuals are less likely to receive appropriate services for their conditions which leads to negative impacts on overall health (Access to Health Services, n.d.). Working in the neuro ICU I have often asked my patients what has led them to not seek preventative care and a large portion of individuals list cost and time constraints as their two big reasons. Medications can be expensive, and the cost of CT and MRI scans necessary to identify and treat neurological conditions can be debilitating financially. The lack of access to health insurance, and thus appropriate health care, leads many of my patients into the ICU with bigger, more life-altering issues at hand. Work Setting Response I work in the critical care setting, so when my patients get to me they are in a very critical stage of illness and our focus is very acute. Once stabilized we have really ramped up our case management and social work sectors on our unit to help facilitate access to services that these patients need in the post-ICU and post-hospitalization phases of their healing. Placement for skilled nurse facilities, coordinating care for outpatient physical and occupational therapy, planning rides to and from appointments, and ensuring that the appropriate paperwork is filed for patients to receive medical benefits is all something that my unit really takes seriously since we know that neurological injury can uproot and change someone’s life unlike any other condition in healthcare. References Access to health services. Access to Health Services – Healthy People 2030. (n.d.). https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants-health/literature-Links to an external site.summaries/access-health-services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, September 1). Health Care Access. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/health_equity/health-Links to an external site.care-access.htm Cyr, M. E., Etchin, A. G., Guthrie, B. J., & Benneyan, J. C. (2019). Access to specialty healthcare in urban versus rural US populations: a systematic literature review. BMC health services research, 19(1), 974. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4815-5 World Health Organization. (2024, March 14). Over 1 in 3 people affected by neurological conditions, the leading cause of illness and disability worldwide. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news/item/14-03-2024-over-1-in-3-people-affected-by-neurological-conditions–the-leading-cause-of-illness-and-disability-worldwide#:~:text=Overall%2C%20neurological%20conditions%20cause%20more,where%20women%20are%20disproportionately%20affected.
******CLICK ORDER NOW BELOW AND OUR WRITERS WILL WRITE AN ANSWER TO THIS ASSIGNMENT OR ANY OTHER ASSIGNMENT, DISCUSSION, ESSAY, HOMEWORK OR QUESTION YOU MAY HAVE. OUR PAPERS ARE PLAGIARISM FREE*******."
