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Disparities in Healthcare

Andrew Bacik RN

Department of Nursing James Madison University

NSG 462 Issues in Contemporary Nursing

Dr. Delawder
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Disparities in Healthcare

Disparities in healthcare seem to have existed since time began. The haves versus the

have nots, the powerful versus the powerless. Is believing that all should be treated equally

asking too much? How bad are healthcare disparities today? As a society is it possible to move

forward and make healthcare disparities a thing of the past?

Types of Healthcare Disparities Over Time

A healthcare disparity is not just about the rich versus poor. There are many sub

categories that fall in line as a disparity. For instance, some disease processes inadvertently affect

minority populations over that of Caucasians. An example in more recent years is shown to us by

Khunti (2022) where during the Covid-19 pandemic showed us that minorities were more likely

to have long term complications from the covid disease process, with preexisting conditions,

than their white counterparts. Information like this leads to more questions than answers. In

situations like this according to Khunti (2022), contributing factors to some of the preexisting

conditions include social and financial status, location of residence, and even households

containing multiple generations. These were all factors that could contribute to onset of

preexisting conditions. A disparity like this one is more complex to solve.

Disparities in healthcare are not just many singled-out issues. For example, they can be a

combination of race, socio/economic status, geographical location, gender, or age, and the list

goes on. An example of a multiple disparities linked together, pulled from Harrington et al.

(2023), the illness rate for pregnant woman in the Unites States has increased and is among the

highest in first world countries. In addition to this Harrington et al. (2023), also explains
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increased rates of illness in pregnant woman living in rural settings is greater than those in their

urban counterparts.

The simplest way to look for and see disparities in the healthcare system is by working

inside that system. As nurses it is important to be on the lookout for both disparities we know

about and to always be looking for new ones. Given the seemingly endless combinations of

disparities it would be easy to miss disparities that you are not familiar with. As nurses we are

supposed to lookout for our patients. Under provision 4, according to Winland-Brown et al.

(2015) nurses are required to give the best care possible. If nurses are not actively looking for

and recognizing disparities than it is not possible for them to offer this level of care. A nurse is

supposed to be an advocate for their patients. As a patient advocate nurses must always put

patient care above anything else.

Perspective and Recommendations

All nurses, being human beings, are flawed. This means they are not perfect. With that on

the forefront of their minds, nurses must be vigilant to their own biases and utilize their

willingness to learn. As explained by Crandlemire (2020) our personal feelings can

unconsciously make us show bias towards our patients, this contributes to the problem of all

healthcare disparities. Education on the issues of disparities is of the utmost importance. If nurses

are to be able to see and weed out disparities inside the healthcare system than it is possible to

correct known disparities that exist. Nurses should be on the lookout for new or other existing

disparities that have not yet been realized. Reeducation nurses that currently look for these

disparities is important. It is of the upmost importance to also educate those that do not feel that

disparities exist. With a focus on all nurses the goal would be to minimize or eliminate all

disparities that can be discovered. There should also be an emphasis on looking for and
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recognizing new disparities that nurses do not even know exist yet. This falls directly in line with

Provision Five. Under this provision, Lechman (2015) it is understood that one of a nurse’s

duties is to continually advance their education. When a nurse constantly educates themselves,

this knowledge can be utilized in care for their patient’s, themselves, and those around them. By

influencing others to promote professional and personal growth other nurses and healthcare

professionals will hopefully continue their own quest for knowledge.

Conclusion

Though healthcare disparities currently, and likely in the future, continue to plague our

healthcare system. Nurses can be the voice of change that, over time, begins the reduction of

these disparities. This will require not only nurses, but the assistance of everyone in healthcare.

In Crandlemire (2020), it is discussed that all those in healthcare can have biases towards

different patient populations. With that knowledge it is obvious that it will take the help and

conscious effort of all healthcare providers to hope for any reduction in disparities towards

patients. This is not going to be a simple process and will require education. For nurses it needs

to begin in the classroom. Portrayed in Crandlemire (2020), the education of our nurses of the

existence of these biases needs to begin in school. By beginning education about disparities

before even becoming a nurse, hopefully over time a reduction in disparities will continue to

occur. In addition, an effort must also be placed on educating those already in healthcare, as

training will be needed for those who were never properly trained to begin with. Progress can be

made, but unfortunately disparities will likely continue even after education on this topic occurs.

One final way to work on disparities education would be to integrate it into mandatory

continuing education credits in all licensed healthcare professions. This would ensure that those

that could show bias towards patients would at least be aware of this potential.
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References

Crandlemire, L. A. (2020). Unconscious Bias and the Impacts on Caring: The Role of the

Clinical Nursing Instructor. International Journal for Human Caring, 24(2), 84–91.

https://doi.org/10.20467/HumanCaring-D-19-00048

Harrington, K. A., Cameron, N. A., Culler, K., Grobman, W. A., & Khan, S. S. (2023). Rural–

Urban Disparities in Adverse Maternal Outcomes in the United States, 2016–

2019. American Journal of Public Health, 113(2), 224–227.

https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2022.307134

Khunti K. (2022). Diabetes, ethnic minority groups and COVID‐19: an inevitable

storm. Practical Diabetes, 39(5), 13–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/pdi.2414

Lachman, V. D. (2015). The New “Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretative Statements”

(2015): Practical Clinical Application, Part II. MEDSURG Nursing, 24(5), 363–368

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,shib&db=rzh&AN=110306130&site=ehost-

live&scope=site&custid=s8863137

Winland-Brown, J., Lachman, V. D., & Swanson, E. O. (2015). The New “Code of Ethics for

Nurses With Interpretive Statements” (2015): Practical Clinical Application, Part

I. MEDSURG Nursing, 24(4), 268–271. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,shib&db=rzh&AN=108890359&site=ehost-

live&scope=site&custid=s8863137