Barriers to Healthcare for Women and Minorities

Poverty and lack of education are two big barriers to healthcare for women and minorities. Low levels of education are associated with low life expectancies and high mortality rates. People living in poverty often lack education about when, why, and where to access healthcare. There have been various legislative activities in the US to improve public health.

On the basis of your understanding of the access to healthcare facilities and impacts of barriers to healthcare access, answer the following questions:

• Explain at least three public health campaigns targeting access to healthcare for women and/or minorities. Describe at least two aspects of their advertising strategies that have addressed income and education.
• Abortion has been the subject of numerous legislative activities in the United States. How have various legislations affected low-income and minority women?
• Describe the legal battle over birth control devices in the United States. Include how access to healthcare has been affected by the legal decisions.
• Describe the legal barriers to healthcare access for low-income immigrant minorities.
• Review the articles, “Ethnic and gender disparities in needed adolescent mental health care”, and “Overlooked and underserved: Improving the health of men of color”. Explain what it means to be “overlooked” by the healthcare system.
• Discuss at least two examples that illustrate why minorities are often overlooked in the healthcare system. Do you agree or disagree with these reasons, why or why not?
• Despite the fact that school-based psychological counseling is available to all students, Thomas et al., report that ethnic disparities in mental healthcare access and utilization still persist. Explain why this disparity exists. What can be done to decrease mental health access and utilization barriers for low-income and minority students?
• What strategies does former U.S. Surgeon General, David Satcher, M.D., discuss that will decrease the potential for minorities to be overlooked by the healthcare system?
• at the end  Participate in the discussion by asking two or more questions, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion

Role of Technology in Long-Term Care

Using the South University Online Library and the Internet, find three articles describing the role technology will play in addressing the challenges ahead in long-term care. Summarize your findings and based on your learning, respond to the following questions:

• Which challenges in long-term care system remain unmet? Why?
• What changes can we expect to occur with the influx of baby boomers entering into the long-term care system?
• Why do you think technology is important to long-term care? Support your answer with relevant examples.
• What are the pros and cons of the implementation of technology in long-term care? Consider both providers and consumers while describing.
• How does technology improve the type and quality of care received by long-term care consumers?
• How important is the commitment by top management for the use of information technology in long-term care to be successful? Why?
• How can the challenges be proactively addressed as opposed to being reactive?

Legal and Ethical Issues: Case Study

Cathy Smith, an eighty-eight-year-old woman, was admitted to the emergency room from the nursing facility with acute respiratory distress. Although Smith does not have a living will, her daughter Rose, a health care professional, has the power of attorney (POA) to make her mother’s health decisions.

Smith suffers from end-stage Alzheimer’s disease and recently experienced congestive heart failure. Her condition is alarming. The doctors want to place her on life-support equipment, including a ventilator. Smith’s son, Andrew, agrees with the doctor’s decision. However, Rose states her mother would never want to be placed on life-support machines to prolong her life.

Analyze the scenario and answer the following questions:

• What are the autonomy-beneficial conflicts between Rose and Andrew related to placing their mother on life support in this case? Who has the right to make the decision on behalf of the client? Why?
• What are the ethical issues related to the competency and decision-making capacity of the client while making the health care decisions? Do these issues impact the services offered in long-term care? How?
• What are some of the critical issues related to informed consent? Who has the right to assume this responsibility? Why?