Disparities in Healthcare: Sickle Cell Anemia

Disparities in Healthcare
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Disparities in Healthcare
Introduction
Healthcare disparities can be described as inequalities in healthcare, prohibiting universal access to affordable and quality healthcare. This is best showcased in the article "Reducing Healthcare Disparities in Sickle Cell Disease: A Review." by Lee et al., (2019). The author describes healthcare disparities for minority healthcare groups like sickle cell anemia patients. This essay aims at addressing the cultural characteristics of sickle cell anemia patients, discussing how these cultural factors influence health disparity issues within sickle cell anemia patients, the role nurses contribute in providing culturally appropriate care to sickle cell patients, a comparison of health disparities between sickle cell patients residing in urban and rural areas, how the disparity can be improved, how the information in the article relates to my current practice and the usability and reliability of the findings of the study in the stated article.
Authors Perception
Lee et al. (2019) asserts that there is a great disparity subjected to sickle cell anemia patients. He describes the disease as an orphan, meaning that the patients are alienated from access to affordable and quality care. These disparities exist in funding mechanisms where the disease receives little funding for research purposes and pharmaceutical investments. This consequently affects access to affordable healthcare mainly because the cost of research and pharmaceuticals tends to be overly expensive for the private sector. The government must recognize that the orphan disease affects more than 200 000 patients across the United States, a figure that should be triggering enough for the government to give it more funding (Lee et al., 2019).
Equally, the author showcases disparities in healthcare related to the accessibility of specialized care. Sickle cell anemia patients residing in rural neighborhoods and with low-income levels greatly suffer due to a lack of affordable specialized care in their places. The author further asserted that the few available specialized centers are located in urban centers, and there need to be more specialized hematologists to handle sickle cell anemia patients.
The author further cited that the low life expectancy can prove health disparity among sickle cell anemia patients. Most sickle cell patients die by the age of 45 which is quite low compared to the general public, whose lifespan is 70 years. Poor disease outcomes necessitate this low life span level, with most patients not being monitored for strokes, a vice that affects them often.
The lack of primary care providers is another evidence of the great disparity that sickle cell anemia patients experience. The total number of emergency visits to hospitals as a result of sickle cell every year is 250, 000 a situation that could have been avoided if there were enough primary care providers to tackle the care of the patients while ta their homes (Lee et al., 2019).
The lack of disease-modifying treatment and pain management barriers among sickle cell patients further showcases the huge disparity. Sickle cell patients suffer from chronic pains, organ damage and Vaso occlusive crises that result in massive pain in the body. Sadly, all they get is stigmatization whenever they present concerns about seeking pain relief medicine (Lee et al., 2019). I agree with the disparity concerns raised by the author since the author cites various studies to showcase the disparity elements in sickle cell anemia patients, making this research article accurate and reliable.
Cultural Characteristics of sickle cell patients and influence on health disparity
Culture depicts a certain population's way of life, values, and beliefs. In this instance, the sickle cell patients are mostly from African American and Hispanic-American Racial groups (Lee et al., 2019). These groups are associated with low-income and low education levels, tend to live in segregated poor neighborhoods and believe in diverse religious groups. These cultural aspects affect the quality of healthcare that they get. With low-income levels, they tend to lack the ability to afford specialized treatment leading to high mortality rates. Lack of proper education and religious barriers affects the minority groups' acceptance of modern healthcare, and some tend to rely more on traditional healers. Healthcare providers must be well aware of language barriers in this population and issues such as the stigmatization of sickle cell patients while administering care. Nurses should always be keen to understand and respect the patients' cultural aspects since this will ensure better health care and better outcomes. Implementing education programs to enlighten sickle cell patients on the importance of modern care and stigma sensitization programs are crucial steps that should be put forth to reduce cultural barriers to healthcare.
Culturally Appropriate Healthcare Practices by Advanced Practice Nurses
Advanced Practice Nurses are crucial in ensuring patients get the required quality care. These nurses have an even bigger role to play in patients suffering from sickle cell. Therefore, their role cannot be underestimated. Part of their role is ensuring they provide culturally acceptable patient care. These can be done in several ways. One of these wa...