Loading...
BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS TO UROGYNECOLOGIC CARE: AN INVESTIGATION INTO PATIENT, PROVIDER, AND STRUCTURAL FACTORS INFLUENCING ACCESS AND TREATMENT
Raffeld, Miriam
Raffeld, Miriam
Citations
Altmetric:
Genre
Thesis/Dissertation
Date
2024-05
Advisor
Committee member
Group
Department
Urban Bioethics
Subject
Permanent link to this record
Collections
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/10186
Abstract
As a healthcare provider focused on women’s health, injustice is something that I see in my patients’ experiences daily. The reasons behind the injustice go far beyond the walls of the hospital. They are related to provider awareness and training, patient access and cultural ideals, as well as structural bias against women, specifically non-English speaking women and women of color. They exist in an entangled web, in which the compilation of multiple factors results in further bias and further distance between the actual care the patient is in need of and the care they receive. My planned future role is to be a provider in Urogynecology, and I will be starting my fellowship in July 2024. This field has a unique lens into the care of women, spanning all ages, races, ethnicities, and education levels. So many women experience incontinence and prolapse, yet so few get help and present to care. Often in the literature, there is documentation that Black and Brown women do not have these issues as frequently as White women. However, there is little acknowledgment of the role that race and culture plays in obtaining care, and how this view could be distorted given so few women feel comfortable speaking on the topic of incontinence and prolapse. This thesis investigates the possible reasons associated with either no presentation or late presentation to care for incontinence and prolapse, and questions whether the captured prevalence in the literature is the true prevalence in our population. I review the research that exists, both quantitative and qualitative, regarding care patterns, patient attitudes and cultural factors, provider knowledge and awareness, and structural factors that facilitate and hinder access to urogynecologic care. I then use an urban bioethical lens to further identify structural bias and racism within healthcare, and inform strategies that may be used to better patient knowledge and education, to allow for more comprehensive and equitable care for women within the field of urogynecology.
Description
Citation
Citation to related work
Has part
ADA compliance
For Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation, including help with reading this content, please contact scholarshare@temple.edu