Background: Free clinics often provide healthcare to homeless individuals who face barriers to accessing primary care and other healthcare services. This study aimed to assess: (1) barriers to healthcare experienced by uninsured and homeless patients at a student-run free clinic; (2) patient perceptions of helpfulness of social service resources; and (3) relationships between barriers and emergency department (ED) use and health status. Methods: In 2017, patient interviews were conducted at a student-run free clinic in central Texas. A structured questionnaire was used to collect demographics, perceived health status, ED usage, and ratings of barriers to healthcare and helpfulness of social service resources. Data analysis included descriptive and bivariate analyses, used to examine the relationship between barriers to healthcare services and ED use, and between barriers to healthcare services and health status. Results: In total, 48 patients participated. The highest-rated barrier to receiving medical care was cost of healthcare, followed by lack of transportation and lack of insurance. Of the top 5 most utilized resources, Medicaid was rated as most helpful, followed by a medical assistance program and caseworkers. Reported ED use was significantly associated with higher ratings of lack of transportation as a barrier (p=0.03), use of a local mental health services program (p=0.01), and having insurance coverage through a local medical assistance program, Medicaid, or Medicare (p=0.01). No significant relationship was found between any healthcare barrier and health status. Conclusions: This study found that the highest barrier to medical care was cost of healthcare and that lack of transportation was significantly related to ED usage. In the future, this clinic might consider introducing a resource that addresses the barrier of transportation for its patients.
The fourth annual summer research summit organized by the Center of Excellence (COE) in Health Equity, Training and Research, Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) was held on May 20, 2021. The theme of this year’s summit was ‘Strengthening Our Commitment to Racial and Social Justice to Improve Public Health.’ Given the ongoing pandemic, the summit was conducted virtually through digital platforms. This program was intended for both BCM and external audiences interested in advancing health equity, diversity and inclusion in healthcare among healthcare providers and trainees, biomedical scientists, social workers, nurses, individuals involved in talent acquisition and development such as hiring managers (HR professionals), supervisors, college and hospital affiliate leadership and administrators, as well as diversity and inclusion excellence practitioners. We had attendees from all regions of the United States, India, Pakistan and the Demographic Republic of the Congo. The content in this Book of Abstracts encapsulates a summary of the research efforts by the BCM COE scholars (which includes post-baccalaureate students, medical students, clinical fellows and junior faculty from BCM) as well as the external summit participants. The range of topics in this year’s summit was quite diverse encompassing disparities in relation to maternal and child health (MCH), immigrant heath, cancers, vaccination uptakes and COVID-19 infections. Various solutions were ardently presented to address these disparities including community engagement and partnerships, improvement in health literacy and development of novel technologies and therapeutics. With this summit, BCM continues to build on its long history of educational outreach initiatives to promote diversity in medicine by focusing on programs aimed at increasing the number of diverse and highly qualified medical professionals ready to introduce effective and innovative approaches to reduce or eliminate health disparities. These programs will improve information resources, clinical education, curricula, research and cultural competence as they relate to minority health issues and social determinants of health. The summit received very positive response in terms of zealous participation and outstanding evaluations; and overall, it was a great success. Copyright © 2021 Lopez et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0.
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