As we enter an era of health care that incorporates telehealth for routine provision of care, we can build a system that consciously and proactively includes vulnerable patients, thereby avoiding further exacerbation of health disparities. A practical way to reach out to Latino patients is to use media they already widely use. Rather than expect patients to adapt to suboptimal systems of telehealth care, we can improve telehealth for Latinos by using platforms already familiar to them and thereby refocus telehealth delivery systems to provide patient-centered care. Such care is responsive to patients’ needs and preferences; for Latinos, this includes using digital devices that they actually own (ie, smartphones). Equity-centered telehealth is accessible for all, regardless of linguistic, literacy, and socioeconomic barriers.
There are about 1.8 million young immigrants in the United States who came or were brought to the country without documentation before the age of 16. These youth have been raised and educated in the United States and have aspirations and educational achievements similar to those of their native-born peers. However, their undocumented status has hindered their pursuit of higher education, especially in medical and other graduate health sciences. Under a new discretionary policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), many of these young immigrants are eligible to receive permission to reside and work in the United States. DACA defers deportation of eligible, undocumented youth and grants lawful presence in the United States, work permits, Social Security numbers, and, in most states, driver's licenses. These privileges have diminished the barriers undocumented students traditionally have faced in obtaining higher education, specifically in pursuing medicine. With the advent of DACA, students are slowly matriculating into U.S. medical schools and residencies. However, this applicant pool remains largely untapped. In the face of a physician shortage and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, an increase in matriculation of qualified undocumented students would be greatly beneficial. This Perspective is intended to begin discussion within the academic medicine community of the implications of DACA in reducing barriers for the selection and matriculation of undocumented medical students and residents. Moreover, this Perspective is a call to peers in the medical community to support undocumented students seeking access to medical school, residency, and other health professions.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.