It’s time to deal with health equity for all

Health equity and access to health care are top news topics. People are dying because they haven’t got access to health care. Patients express concerns that they can not afford medicines and groceries. When did it develop into vital to choose from buying prescribed medicines and food? Health care institutions are discontinuing chosen services or closing them altogether, and providers are moving to states where they may not be prosecuted for providing high-quality care. What is occurring on this country? We spend more on health care than every other country on the planet, and yet our health outcomes are among the many worst (Gunja, Gumas, & Williams, 2023). It’s time for a change.

It’s time to vary the narrative from health equity to health equity.

We must finally agree that every one people on the planet have the correct to health care. For years we’ve talked about health or ensuring everyone has the identical interventions. The truth is that health equity doesn’t work. We cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach to health care. We must concentrate on health outcomes after which determine which interventions are best for a person to realize a particular final result and optimal level of well-being.

Too often, people should not have access to health take care of disease prevention and screening, and are due to this fact diagnosed with conditions that would have been detected early enough to be treated more effectively. People will argue that prevention and screening costs money. Yes, that is definitely true; nevertheless, taking the time to teach yourself about protected sex, modifying your food regimen, exercising, and quitting smoking costs lower than treating a heart attack, heart failure, COPD, lung cancer, or HIV.

It’s time to bring health care to where the individuals are.

We must do higher in providing access to care. Healthcare organizations must recognize and appreciate their responsibility to satisfy the needs of the communities they serve. This means bringing health care to where the individuals are. People must trust that health care professionals and organizations need to help them. During the pandemic, we’ve been capable of construct trust in our communities by organizing clinics and offering vaccines and screening for the Covid-19 virus. We must address access to care, and which means addressing transportation to health care facilities and appointments. Healthcare organizations cannot do that alone; to make this occur, they need to work with local authorities and social services.

Healthcare takes a multidisciplinary approach. It’s time to interrupt down our silos and force doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social employees, mental health specialists, physical and occupational therapists, and dietitians to work together to enhance and optimize health care. All members of the medical team should be seated on the table where discussions happen and decisions are made.

It’s time for health equity for all.

I recently cared for a patient with a preventable disease. They must have received screening and treatment and lived their lives. Instead, their lives were cut short. I feel sorry for this person. I wish our system could have worked higher. I’m not alone; we see such cases day-after-day. The query is, are you willing to take a stand and check out to enhance the system? Is your healthcare organization able to shift the narrative from “for all”? AND

Gunja, M., Gumas, E., & Williams, R. (2023, January 31). US healthcare from a world perspective, 2022: rising expenses, worsening outcomes. Commonwealth Fund. https://doi.org/10.26099/8ejy-yc74