Care Disparities Discussion Essay

Introduction

Alcendor (2020) describes care disparities as the differences that are experienced in the quality, outcomes, and access to healthcare among different community groups. They are based on socioeconomic status, race, gender, age, ethnicity, or geographic location. Identifying these disparities and how they affect patient outcomes in a hospital-affiliated clinic should be approached with immediate attention. As a nurse practitioner in such a setting, addressing the identified disparities and finding out the methods of improvement is essential.  Care Disparities Discussion Essay

What the clinic should do as a whole to improve

First of all, the clinics should recognize the existence of these disparities before forming a diversity and inclusion committee to specifically address the identified disparities. Investigating the root cause of the problems is also important to be able to formulate solutions (Zhai, 2021). The management of the clinic should consider providing its staff with cultural competency training to promote effective communication among themselves and the patients. A system should also be established to help in monitoring patient satisfaction and outcomes, especially among minority and marginalized groups.

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What should your specialty clinic do to improve

The specialty clinic should analyze the assessment results thoroughly within its context and find out if there is any specialty factor that might be leading to the identified disparities in any way. The specialty can take part in the training and education programs that are patient-centred to help on addressing the disparities (Zhai, 2021). Care Disparities Discussion Essay

Individual Nurse Practitioner

As an individual nurse practitioner, I would first reflect on my own patient care attitudes and practices. I would then assess myself to be able to identify any misconceptions or biases that would affect my interaction with patients (Zhai, 2021). Seeking regular feedback from colleagues and patients regarding my communication and interaction with elderly patients.

Why should these results create concern about accreditation

These results should create a concern because failing to address them and improve the overall patient outcomes would lead to negative effects during the process of accreditation. The clinic can also lose potential accreditation. Addressing the disparities aligns the organization with the goals of accreditation which include the promotion of patient-centered care, ensuring quality and safe care, and improving patient outcomes (Alcendor, 2020). Care Disparities Discussion Essay

References

Alcendor, D. J. (2020). Racial disparities-associated COVID-19 mortality among minority populations in the US. Journal of clinical medicine, 9(8), 2442.

Zhai, Y. (2021). A call for addressing barriers to telemedicine: health disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 1.

You are a Nurse Practitioner in a Hospital Affiliated clinic, and both the hospital and clinic are accredited by the Joint Commission. The clinic is having its monthly meeting of care providers. The major agenda item is a recent assessment that the clinic completed. The report examined outcomes of care for your clinic’s patients. The assessment evaluated patients overall and by race, age, and diagnosis. The results indicate that there are major disparity problems. The problems include: Care Disparities Discussion Essay

Forty percent of minority patients do not meet expected outcomes for their diagnosis.
Patient satisfaction for the following groups was below 55% rating: Elderly, African Americans, and Hispanics. Most of the patient identified concerns focused on patient-staff communication and especially patients feeling not listened to respectfully.
The group is also reminded that the hospital’s Joint Commission accreditation process will begin in a month.

Respond to the following questions:

What should the clinic as a whole do to improve?
What should your specialty clinic (Psych or Family Practice) do to improve?
What steps you do as an individual Nurse Practitioner do to find out if you need to make changes in your patient care of the elderly and minority patients?
Why should these results create a concern about accreditation? Care Disparities Discussion Essay