The Impact Of Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Health Care

There is a problem in healthcare where racial and ethnic disparities exist. Despite the abundance of healthcare facilities, technology and pharmacology and other aspects to which the U.S. is envied by others, something that should be accessible to everyone, is not. The quality and improvement of health care have been a long- standing and persistent issue of national discussions in the United States for years. This problem has negatively impacted African American women because there is a disparity of access and quality of care that they are receiving. Poor outcomes in health care, based on race or ethnic background exist in every level of the American health care system. A possible cause of this problem is healthcare has ties to social injustices, opportunities, quality of life to our patients and our communities. Health and health care disparities can be described as the differences which cannot be explained by variety in health care needs, patient preferences, or treatment recommendations.
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African Americans and Hispanics tend to receive a lower quality of healthcare across a range of disease areas (including cancer) and clinical services. Minority patients are more likely to refuse services that are recommended and delay seeking healthcare. These behaviors and attitudes can develop as a result of a cultural mismatch between minority patients and their providers, mistrust, language barriers. Services for interpretation and translation should be provided in the community if the need exists. Equal access to the same health care products and services are often deferred to avoid fragmentation of health