Applying Research Skills – Limited Access to Healthcare

The issue of concern is limited access to healthcare. This implies that people lack timely access to health services. Limited access to healthcare results in poor patient outcomes and an increase in morbidity and mortality rates (Ruralhealthinfo.org, 2022). Various etiologies have been implicated in this problem. To begin with, distance barriers and poor transportation impede access to healthcare in rural areas (Ruralhealthinfo.org, 2022). Secondly, shortages of healthcare providers impede service delivery and limit healthcare access (Ruralhealthinfo.org, 2022). Thirdly, lack of health insurance coverage limits the ability of people to access affordable healthcare services (Ruralhealthinfo.org, 2022). It is worth noting that most uninsured people live in rural areas. Fourthly, limited health literacy impedes the ability of the community to comprehend health information and know when to seek timely care.

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As a healthcare practitioner, limited access to healthcare impacts my practice. I should be involved in addressing this problem through community education and advocacy. For instance, I am involved in patient and family education to improve health literacy and increase access to healthcare. Additionally, I am involved in providing care that fulfills the basic needs of the community. During my clinical practice, I interacted with a six-year-old diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Upon discharge, the patient was required to visit the hospital thrice weekly for close follow-up. However, according to his parents, they lived far away from the hospital and could not come thrice weekly. This was resolved by embracing digital monitoring via telehealth technology.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

I sought peer-reviewed journal articles from online databases. Notably, I used PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar. I selected articles published within the past five years to access current information. Keywords such as “healthcare access” enabled me to find relevant journal articles.

Credibility and Relevance of Information Sources

To begin with, I selected articles from governmental organizations and online databases with reputable peer-reviewed journal articles. Also, I evaluated the credibility of these articles by embracing the CRAAP test. This enabled me to select articles with current, accurate, and generalizable information. Also, the CRAAP test enabled me to evaluate authors’ affiliations and credentials. As such, I included articles with relevant and credible information.

Annotated Bibliography

Coombs, N. C., Campbell, D. G., & Caringi, J. (2022). A qualitative study of rural healthcare providers’ views of social, cultural, and programmatic barriers to healthcare access. BMC Health Services Research, 22(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07829-2

The article aims to examine barriers to healthcare access in rural areas and identify potential strategies for resolving the barriers. This qualitative study targeted healthcare providers working in rural areas of Montana, USA. All respondents were actively involved in formulating the patient’s treatment plans. Findings indicate that various factors impede access to healthcare. Firstly, the lack of culturally cogent healthcare services impeded access to healthcare services. Secondly, fragmented communication between healthcare practitioners impedes access to healthcare. Thirdly, limited resources (workforce shortages) impede access to healthcare. Fourthly, a system that prioritizes profits is less committed to addressing factors that impede healthcare access. According to the authors, these factors should be addressed adequately to solve the limited healthcare access problem. This article is relevant because it identifies the causes of limited access to healthcare in rural areas. Furthermore, it enables stakeholders (healthcare providers) to make informed decisions when formulating strategies to improve access to healthcare.

Cyr, M. E., Etchin, A. G., Guthrie, B. J., & Benneyan, J. C. (2019). Access to specialty healthcare in urban versus rural US populations: A systematic literature review. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4815-5

The article explores the differences between access to healthcare in urban and rural populations in the USA. The authors conducted a systematic review of articles published between 2013 and 2018. The articles were sourced from CINAHL, PsychInfo, and Medline. The authors report that the findings demonstrate similar barriers and facilitators to healthcare access in urban and rural areas. The first factor is an adequate number of specialized healthcare providers. The second factor is the appropriateness of the healthcare services. This considers cultural sensitivity and the quality of the services. The third factor is insurance and government policy. The fourth factor is social stigma and privacy concerns. The fifth factor is the influence of primary care providers. This article is relevant because it identifies factors that affect, promote, and impede healthcare access in the USA. This information provides invaluable evidence and forms the basis of policy formulation.

Lahr, M., Henning-Smith, C., Rahman, A., & Hernandez, A. (2021). Barriers to Health Care Access for Rural Medicare Beneficiaries: Recommendations from Rural Health Clinics. January. https://rhrc.umn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/UMN-RHC-Access-to-Care-PB_1.20_508.pdf

This article aims to identify the barriers to healthcare access by rural Medicare beneficiaries. Data collection entailed online surveys distributed to representative facilities across twenty-seven states. Findings demonstrate that barriers to healthcare access can be categorized into seven themes. Firstly, transportation limitations impede healthcare access. Secondly, workforce problems such as shortages of healthcare providers limit timely access to healthcare services. Thirdly, location or distance (long distances) from the healthcare facilities limits access to healthcare. Fourthly, a lack of health literacy limits the ability of patients to seek prompt healthcare services. Fifthly, a lack of support systems impeded access to healthcare services. Sixthy costs such as deductibles, medication costs, service costs, and reimbursement rates limited healthcare access. Seventhly, patient decisions not to seek healthcare impede the timely care delivery. This article is relevant because it identifies factors that impede healthcare access in the USA. The factors should be addressed to improve healthcare access.

Tulimiero, M., Garcia, M., Rodriguez, M., & Cheney, A. M. (2021). Overcoming Barriers to Health Care Access in Rural Latino Communities: An Innovative Model in the Eastern Coachella Valley. Journal of Rural Health, 37(3), 635–644. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12483

This article aims to address barriers to healthcare access by Latino farmworkers. The authors identify barriers of concern as public transportation and limited health services. Data collection was accomplished via focus group discussions and interviews. Findings indicate that mobile clinics should be embraced to improve access to healthcare services. These mobile clinics should target patients at their workplaces (farms) and offer services at flexible hours, such as outside business hours. Also, healthcare providers should embrace cultural sensitivity to understand the community’s needs and increase healthcare access. This article is relevant because it identifies strategies for addressing the problem of limited access to healthcare access.

Learnings from the Research

Findings by Coombs et al. (2022) taught me that factors that impede access to healthcare can be categorized into cultural, social, and programmatic. Furthermore, I learned that people in urban and rural areas are likely to experience similar barriers to healthcare access, as evidenced by the findings of Cyr et al. (2019). Findings by Lahr et al. (2021) equipped me with key information about barriers to barriers for rural populations. Lastly, I learned that mobile clinics should be embraced to increase access to healthcare by people living in rural areas (Tulimiero et al., 2021).

References

Ruralhealthinfo.org. (2022). Healthcare Access in Rural Communities. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/healthcare-access

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Question

Create a 2-4 page annotated bibliography and summary based on your research on best practices addressing one of the health care problems or issues in the Assessment Topic Areas media piece a health care organization faces that interests you.

Applying Research Skills – Limited Access to Healthcare

Introduction
In your professional life, you must find credible evidence to support your decisions and plans of action. You will want to keep abreast of best practices to help your organization adapt to the ever-changing healthcare environment. Being adept at research will help you find the information you need. For this assessment, you will review the Assessment Topic Areas media piece and select one of the healthcare problems or issues to research, which will be a current healthcare problem or issue faced by a healthcare organization that interests you.

Instructions
Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. At a minimum, be sure to address each point. In addition, you are encouraged to review the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.

For this assessment, best practices related to a current healthcare problem should be researched. Your selected problem or issue will be utilized again in Assessment 4. To explore your chosen topic, you should use the first two steps of the Socratic Problem-Solving Approach to aid your critical thinking.

View the Assessment Topic Areas media piece and select one of the healthcare problems or issues in the media piece to research. Write a brief overview of the selected topic. In your overview:
Summarize the health care problem or issue.
Describe your interest in the topic.
Describe any professional experience you have with this topic.
Identify peer-reviewed articles relevant to healthcare issues or problems.
Search scholarly peer-reviewed literature related to the topic and describe the criteria you used to search for articles, including the names of the databases you used. You will select four current scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles published during the past 3–5 years that relate to your topic.
Refer to the NHS-FPX4000: Developing a Health Care Perspective Library Guide to help you locate appropriate references.
Use keywords related to the healthcare problem or issue you are researching to select relevant articles.
Assess the credibility and explain the relevance of the information sources you find.
Determine if the source is from an academic peer-reviewed journal.
Determine if the publication is current.
Determine if information in the academic peer-reviewed journal article is still relevant.
Analyze academic peer-reviewed journal articles using the annotated bibliography organizational format. Provide a rationale for the inclusion of each selected article. The purpose of an annotated bibliography is to document a list of references along with key information about each one. The detail about the reference is the annotation. Developing this annotated bibliography will create a foundation of knowledge about the selected topic. In your annotated bibliography:
Identify the purpose of the article.
Summarize the information.
Provide a rationale for the inclusion of each article.
Include the conclusions and findings of the article.
Write your annotated bibliography in paragraph form. The annotated bibliography should be approximately 150 words (1–3 paragraphs) in length.
List the full reference for the source in APA format (author, date, title, publisher, et cetera) and use APA format for the annotated bibliography.
Make sure the references are listed in alphabetical order, are double-spaced, and use hanging indents.
Summarize what you have learned from developing an annotated bibliography.
Summarize what you learned from your research in a separate paragraph or two at the end of the paper.
List the main points you learned from your research.
Summarize the main contributions of your chosen sources and how they enhanced your knowledge about the topic.

Applying Research Skills – Limited Access to Healthcare