Question

2. Based on your review of examples programs to address health disparities, describe one of them and how nurses can help eliminate health disparities related to race?

3. Have you as a health care professional witnessed privilege or racial profiling at your work place? What can be done to stop racial profiling in health care and beyond? How can a better understanding of implicit bias, health disparities and the role of race and socioeconomic background inform your nursing practice to ensure a more equitable delivery of health services? Please cite scholarly

Answer 1

Answer:

There are various programs of health disparities.

I am listing the following for your reference and understanding.

Training, Fellowship, and Health Disparities Programs

Overview

The AIDS Research Training Program supports research training at the predoctoral, postdoctoral, and early investigator level of career development in areas relevant to the focus of the Division. The program includes training both in the basic neuroscience of HIV infections, as well as the behavioral science research agenda.

The AIDS research training program is linked to the HIV/AIDS Health Disparities program, which promotes multidisciplinary research and research training on mental health issues related to HIV/AIDS among underrepresented diverse racial/ethnic communities in order to reduce the disproportionate burden of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on these populations. The major focus of the disparities program is to: (1) enhance diversity in the AIDS mental health research workforce through research capacity building efforts; and (2) support partnerships through collaborative and integrated programs for academic-research-community linkages and for community-based participatory training and research. These two inter-related programs incorporate experiences in didactics (and other relevant curricula and academic enrichment) and research that encourage translational and interdisciplinary approaches.

Programs

Institutional Training Program (T32)

Research Education programs (R25)

Mentored Career Development Program (K99, K01, K08, K23)

Individual Pre-doctoral and Post-doctoral Fellowships (F30, F31, F32)

Dissertation Research Grants to Increase Diversity (R36)

How to overcome disparities related to race:

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care

Compared with whites, members of racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to receive preventive health services and often receive lower-quality care.

To reduce racial and ethnic health disparities, advocates say health care professionals must explicitly acknowledge that race and racism factor into health care.

Elimination of Health Disparities

America benefits when everyone has the opportunity to live a long, healthy, and productive life, yet health disparities persist. A health disparity is a difference in health outcomes across subgroups of the population. Health disparities are often linked to social, economic, or environmental disadvantages (e.g., less access to good jobs, unsafe neighborhoods, lack of affordable transportation options). Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health on the basis of their racial or ethnic group, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, age, mental health, cognitive, sensory, or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, geographic location, or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion. Many health concerns, such as heart disease, asthma, obesity, diabetes, HIV/ AIDS, viral hepatitis B and C, infant mortality, and violence, disproportionately affect certain populations. Reducing disparities in health will give everyone a chance to live a healthy life and improve the quality of life for all Americans.

• Fact Sheet: Elimination of Health Disparities (PDF - 537 KB)

Recommendations:

1. Ensure a strategic focus on communities at greatest risk.
2. Reduce disparities in access to quality health care.
3. Increase the capacity of the prevention workforce to identify and address disparities.
4. Support research to identify effective strategies to eliminate health disparities.
5. Standardize and collect data to better identify and address disparities.

What Can State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Governments Do?

• Use data to identify populations at greatest risk and work with communities to implement policies and programs that address highest priority needs.
• Improve coordination, collaboration, and opportunities for engaging community leaders and members in prevention.
• Improve privacy-protected health data collection for underserved populations to help improve programs and policies for these populations.

What Can Businesses and Employers Do?

• Provide opportunities for workplace prevention activities, including preventive screenings.
• Partner with local resources such as libraries and literacy programs to enhance employees’ ability to identify and use reliable health information.

What Can Health Care Systems, Insurers, and Clinicians Do?

• Increase the cultural and communication competence of health care providers.
• Train and hire more qualified staff from underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
• Enhance care coordination and quality of care (e.g., medical home models, integrated care teams).

What Can Early Learning Centers, Schools, Colleges, and Universities Do?

• Conduct research to identify new, effective policy and program interventions to reduce health disparities.
• Conduct outreach to increase the diversity (e.g., racial/ethnic, income, disability) in health care and public health careers.
• Offer preventive services (e.g., mental health services, oral care, vision, and hearing screenings) for all children, especially those at risk.
• Develop and implement local strategies to reduce health, psychosocial, and environmental conditions that affect school attendance and chronic absenteeism.

What Can Community, Non-Profit, and Faith-Based Organizations Do?

• Bring together professionals from a range of sectors (e.g., transportation, health, environment, labor, education, and housing) with community representatives to ensure that community health needs are identified and that needs and barriers are addressed.
• Help ensure that prevention strategies are culturally, linguistically, and age appropriate, and that they match people’s health literacy skills.
• Provide Internet access and skill-building courses to help residents find reliable health information and services.

What Can Individuals and Families Do?

• Participate in community-led prevention efforts.
• Use community resources (e.g., libraries, literacy programs) to improve their ability to read, understand, and use health information.