Poor Health Outcomes: Unfairly Higher in Lower Socioeconomic Groups - Essay Sample

Introduction

Many health studies indicate that social circumstances contribute to significant health disparities both in the developing and affluent countries. Those individuals who are considered poor and less educated often encounter numerous health conditions and sometimes die earlier compared those who are relatively richer and more educated. As a matter of fact, people further down the ladder have almost twice the risk of developing a given health condition due to certain social factors such as education, occupation, wealth and income. These social factors in healthcare are the conditions people live in, play in and work, and can significantly influence an individual's health as well as the well-being of the entire community. Therefore, to improve health equity in a health care system, it is critical to better understand how these social factors cause poor health and how to train allied health workers, physicians, and nurses on ways of addressing these determinants to provide more patient-centred care.

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There are many ways in which social determinants can impact the health care system, and as a result, influence people's health outcome. Overall across the globe, many believe that their health is determined by their genes, their behavior, or how frequently they visit the hospital. However, it is not just how people live that determine how healthy they are. Health care can be impacted both by the physical and social environment in many ways. For instance, according to Currie et al. (2009), one of the major impacts of social factors on the healthcare system is the lack of education among patients. Education and healthcare are strongly intertwined. Essentially, childhood education and experiences offer knowledge and problem-solving skills that people need to make adequate decisions about their health. Individuals with more education are more likely to have a sense of control over life circumstances; therefore are likely to take part in healthy activities and visit their doctors regularly. They have better jobs with healthier working conditions and usually tend to shy away from unhealthy activities such as smoking. Nevertheless, unhealthy behaviors exhibited by uneducated people negatively impact their health and at times, makes it hard for healthcare providers to provide the best care for them.

Similarly, lack of employment and housing are also some of the significant impacts of social factors on the healthcare system. Ideally, employment influence people's health in diverse ways, particularly by determining employment opportunities and income. People with better jobs and higher incomes have more access to healthcare and better living standards (Oliver & Mossialos, 2004). They usually get better attention from healthcare providers since they are able to pay for such services. They tend to live healthy since they have access to healthy food and safe spaces for exercises. Those who lack employment and have lower incomes are usually in situations that can lead to poor health. For example, a majority of them do not have access to proper medicare as they lack health insurance. They also tend to eat unhealthily and have less time for physical activities. Lower-income also affects their ability to visit their doctors regularly. Another impact of social factors on the healthcare system is homelessness. Individuals who lack houses are usually exposed to poor living conditions, thus, increases their risk of developing health problems (Wen, Hudak, & Hwang, 2007). They tend to live in abandoned toxic buildings that expose them to mould, pests and toxins which can affect their health.

Considering these factors, it is acknowledged that to improve everyone's health; healthcare providers must prioritize health equity by integrating interventions to reduce disparities into health programs and services. This can be done both at the patient and practice level. To begin with, when engaging patients, physicians can ask questions relating to social challenges in a sensitive and caring way. This is often the first step in getting into the world of patients. Medical practitioners have adequate training to engage patients on matters often considered sensitive. They are able to ask their patients' living conditions, lack of employment, illiteracy or food insecurity without necessarily spooking them. This form of empathy and compassion usually makes patients more forthcoming, which can help frontline practitioners help them better.

Secondly, clinicians can help improve access and quality of care for disadvantaged and unreachable patients. Such services include giving bus fare to patients coming from far to enable them to attend appointments, identifying the language preference for patients especially if they are uneducated, bringing healthcare services where the disadvantaged live and availing financial incentives for practitioners to improve their efficiency (Andermann, 2016).). Finally, health practitioners can improve the healthcare of their disadvantaged patients by collaborating with public health and community groups as well as local leaders. Through the health of communities and local leaders, medical practitioners can help create healthier environments by actively engaging in addressing social factors affecting healthcare system through developing a number of community-based interventions for the purpose of providing equitable healthcare for all.

Conclusion

In conclusion, to improve health equity in a health care system, it is critical to better understand how social factors such as lack of education, employment and homelessness influence healthcare system, and the critical interventions that can be carried out by medical practitioners and other allied health workers. Some of the ways in which social factors can impact health care system are through lack of education, housing and employment. Even so, nurses can often be trained to address these issues by engaging clients about their social issues in a caring way. Similarly, they can be trained to improve medical access for disadvantaged patients and also to by collaborating with local leaders, community groups and public health.

References

Andermann, A. (2016). Taking action on the social determinants of health in clinical practice: a framework for health professionals. Cmaj, 188(17-18), E474-E483. Retrieved from http://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/17-18/E474.short

Currie, C., Zanotti, C., Morgan, A., Currie, D., De Looze, M., Roberts, C., ... & Barnekow, V. (2009). Social determinants of health and well-being among young people. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study: international report from the, 2010, 271. Retrieved from http://www.hbsc.unito.it/it/images/pdf/hbsc/prelims-part1.pdf

Oliver, A., & Mossialos, E. (2004). Equity of access to health care: outlining the foundations for action. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 58(8), 655-658. Retrieved from https://jech.bmj.com/content/58/8/655.short

Wen, C. K., Hudak, P. L., & Hwang, S. W. (2007). Homeless people's perceptions of welcomeness and unwelcomeness in healthcare encounters. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 22(7), 1011-1017. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-007-0183-7