Mortality rates vary between the Hispanic community and the general population. Discuss the leading causes of death and illness among Hispanic Americans and the options the Advanced Practice Nurse has to overcome the disparity of healthcare for this population. Andrews.& Boyle, J. Chapters 5, 6, & 10 Underserved Population Essay
Underserved Population
Leading Causes of Death and Illness among Hispanic Americans
The leading causes of death among Hispanic America include cancer, cardiovascular disease, and unintentional injuries. In 2016, cancer contributed to 20.9% of deaths among Hispanics while heart diseases contributed 20.1% of deaths among Hispanic Americans (Poghosyan & Carthon, 2017). Unintentional injuries contributed to 8.3% of deaths for Hispanic Americans in 2016 (Velasco-Mondragon et al, 2016). Similarly, statistics show that the leading causes of disease for Hispanic Americans include cardiovascular disease, cancer, and hypertension. Health determinants such as lack of access to healthcare and risk factors for non-communicable disease are some factors that make Hispanic American susceptible to diseases and death (Lariscy et al, 2016). Hispanic Americans face numerous health risks like obesity, smoking, alcohol and lack of access to healthcare, among other risk factors. The high mortality rate and disease rate among the Hispanic Americans result from socio determinants of health such as unemployment, poor living conditions, socioeconomic status, as well as behavioural risk factors like poor nutrition, lack of physical activities and substance use (Lariscy et al, 2016). Underserved Population Essay
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Role of the Advanced Practice Nurse in the Disparity of Healthcare
An advanced nurse can overcome healthcare disparities by being advocates of populations facing health disparities. An advanced nurse can achieve this by for example developing strategies that will ensure partnering with the Hispanic communities to engage them and improve the relevance of the appropriate healthcare interventions (Schroedl, 2014). The advanced nurse can formulate strategies that can link the Hispanic Americans with organizations that can help reduce the health disparities such as improving health access for the community members and also conduction educational forums to educate Hispanics on how to avoid health risk factors and adopt healthy lifestyles. Finally, an advanced nurse has the role of conducting research and disseminating the findings of health disparities for Hispanic Americans and on risk prevention strategies (Poghosyan & Carthon, 2017).
References
Lariscy J, Nau C, Firebaugh G & Hummer R. (2016). Hispanic-White differences in lifespan variability in the United States. Demography. 53(1), 215–239.
Poghosyan L & Carthon B. (2017). The Untapped Potential of the Nurse Practitioner Workforce in Reducing Health Disparities. Policy Polit Nurs Pract. 18(2), 84-94.
Schroedl A.(2014). Reducing Racial/Ethnic Health Care Disparities Through Innovation and Nursing Advocacy. The Internet Journal of Advanced Nursing Practice. 11(2).
Velasco-Mondragon E, Jimenez A, Davis A, Davis D & Jose E. (2016). Hispanic health in the USA: a scoping review of the literature. Public Health Rev. 37(31). Underserved Population Essay