Decreasing Health Disparities for People with Disabilities through Improved Communication Strategies and Awareness

Abstract

Factors influencing access to health care among people with disabilities (PWD) include: attitudes of health care providers and the public, physical barriers, miscommunication, income level, ethnic/minority status, insurance coverage, and lack of information tailored to PWD. Reducing health care disparities in a population with complex needs requires implementation at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. This review article discusses common barriers to health care access from the patient and provider perspective, particularly focusing on communication barriers and how to address and ameliorate them. Articles utilized in this review were published from 2005 to present in MEDLINE and CINAHL and written in English that focused on people with disabilities. Topics searched for in the literature include: disparities and health outcomes, health care dissatisfaction, patient-provider communication and access issues. Ineffective communication has significant impacts for PWD. They frequently believe that providers are not interested in, or sensitive to their particular needs and are less likely to seek care or to follow up with recommendations. Various strategies for successful improvement of health outcomes for PWD were identified including changing the way health care professionals are educated regarding disabilities, improving access to health care services, and enhancing the capacity for patient centered care.

The Experiences of Microaggressions against Women with Visible and Invisible Disabilities

“…The first microaggression was that symptoms sometimes were not believed by medical professionals, thus delaying diagnosis of disability. Considerable research supports the idea that women and people with disabilities are among the groups that receive disparate medical care (Chrisler, Barney, & Palatino, ; Hatzenberger, Phelan, & Link, ; McColl, Aiken, & Schaub, ; Schimmel Hyde & Livermore, ; Sharby, Martire, & Iversen, ; White & Stubblefield‐Tave, ). One mechanism for this disparate care may be the degree to which symptoms are thought to be medical versus psychoemotional.…”

Potentially Avoidable Hospitalizations among People at Different Activity of Daily Living Limitation Stages

“…Once at the primary care setting, they may encounter further barriers such as inaccessible examination tables, lack of transfer aides, or accessible weight scales (Mudrick et al 2012;Stillman et al 2014). Furthermore, communication barriers, inadequate time, and provider training may affect the quality of care received by people with disabilities in primary care (Bachman et al 2006;Morrison, George, and Mosqueda 2008;Brown et al 2010;Sharby, Martire, and Iversen 2015).…”

Estado actual de la atención sanitaria de personas con discapacidad auditiva y visual: una revisión breve

“…Se debe comprender la realidad del día a día que están expuestos los pacientes con discapacidad visual y auditiva, y de esa manera poder crear el vínculo médico-paciente, mejorar la confianza, la satisfacción usuaria, el uso de medidas preventivas, asistencia a controles y con ello sus condiciones de salud 57,80 . A nivel internacional se han desarrollado exitosos programas para la atención de personas con discapacidad visual y auditiva en estudiantes de medicina [80][81][82][83][84][85] , odontología [85][86][87] , químico-farmacéuticos 84,88 y profesionales de la salud en general 85,89,90 . Estos programas han resultado en alumnos con mejores actitudes frente a estos pacientes y con la percepción de sentirse capacitados para atender sus necesidades 57,83,88,89 .…”