Community Health
Despite the massive gains in healthcare systems across the globe, it is unfortunate that numerous disparities persist. Historically, healthcare disparities have an interrelationship with socio-economic status, racial differences, and environmental disadvantages in the community. For instance, Artiga, Orgera, and Pham (2020) argue that low-income individuals, coupled with people of color continue to suffer disproportionately in terms of accessing healthcare, including the most considerable proportion of uninsured persons in comparison the Whites and high net worth individuals.
Towards the end of 2019, the novel COVID 19 disease originated from Wuhan China, and by 2020, its seepage into other countries was evident. Fast forward to April 2020, and COVID 19 had penetrated both developed and developing countries, including the U.S, where it had claimed over 40,000 lives (WHO, 2020). However, the health pandemic has exposed the soft underbelly of the health inequalities between African Americans and other populations residing in the U.S. Research conducted by the UNT Health Science Group (2020) found that African Americans experience higher disparities in terms of; predisposition to chronic conditions, access to medical care, and lower health literacy levels.
Subsequently, although the African Americans comprise a paltry 13 percent of the entire U.S population, they account for approximately 28 percent of daily COVID 19 cases, and 60 percent of deaths attributable to this pandemic (UNT, 2020). African Americans have higher incidents of chronic health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, coronary vascular diseases, hypertension, among others (Modlin, 2020). Health experts have determined most of the patients with these conditions are among the worst hit by COVID 19 because of their compromised immune systems.
Furthermore, the socio-economic factors also come into play when analyzing COVID 19 cases. One of the fundamental preventive mechanisms of the COVID 19 disease is social distancing and minimal social gatherings. Some of the principal U.S cities were under a total lockdown, and employees encouraged considering working from home or telecommuting. Nonetheless, Modlin (2020) posits that a majority of African Americans live in densely populated housing complexes and apartments owing to their low household incomes. Consequently, social distancing, combined with a stay at home guidelines are near impossible to implement. Besides, most of the black folks work in barbershops, truck deliveries, and community centers, all of which are not conducive for working from home. As a result, these factors make African Americans more susceptible to contracting COVID 19 disease.
Ultimately, the culture of safety refers to organizational practices that embrace the core beliefs and behaviors aimed at strengthening security and reliability in healthcare institutions. The culture of safety in nursing revolves around not only patient safety areas but also in assessing the organizational preparedness to champion overall safety practices. As such, Halligan, and Zecevic (2011) argue that corporate leaders play a vital role in designing a culture of safety since leading by example they can influence junior employees to adopt safety practices in the workplace. For instance, in the health domain, healthcare workers are the frontline respondents for COVID 19 patients. Hence, they are at a higher risk of infection from continuous interaction and treatment of this health pandemic. As a result, (WHO Safe Working Conditions, 2020) advocates for a culture of safety calls for healthcare stakeholders to provide sufficient measures for healthcare workers, including PPE, psychosocial support, and a financial cushion to enable them to work with minimal distractions.