How can healthcare professionals ensure that all patients receive equal treatment?

Healthcare professionals can ensure equal treatment by implementing training programs that promote cultural competence and sensitivity to diverse patient populations. Additionally, they can establish clear protocols and guidelines that prioritize equitable access to care and treatment options for all patients.

Health equity is about responding to the individual, social, cultural, and structural needs of each person. It is a one-size-fits-one approach, rather than one- size-fits-most. It's an understanding that optimal health requires that each person has consistent access, resources, and supports to attain their best quality of life and health. It's acknowledging that healthcare has been biased and harmful for many. A lens that honors health equity also requires that we acknowledge the structural, racial, and social barriers that contribute to, and exasperate ill-health among certain individuals, populations, and communities. #HealthEquity is necessary if we want to have a systems of healthcare, rather than a system of health-harm.

Healthcare professionals play a critical role in ensuring equitable treatment for all patients. They can start by recognizing their biases and prejudices, actively working to mitigate them. It's essential to adhere to evidence-based guidelines and clinical protocols consistently, avoiding variations in care based on personal biases. Effective communication with patients, involving them in decision-making, and respecting their cultural and individual preferences are vital aspects of equitable care. Ongoing education and training on cultural competence and diversity can further enhance healthcare professionals' ability to provide equitable treatment can help in continuously improving the quality of care and promoting healthcare equity.

By having a high sense of duty and standing by the code of conduct while understanding and accepting the fundamental rights of humanity to liberty as healthy as definable and possible.

In my role as a health care provider, while practicing medicine in South Korea, I encountered diverse health perspectives. One memorable interaction was with a South Korean patient with strict traditional and religious beliefs. Her preferred dietary and medical preferences differed significantly from Western norms. Instead of immediately prescribing a typical Western treatment, I engaged in a thorough dialogue, striving to understand her values. This approach led to a solution that honored her cultural beliefs while ensuring medical efficacy. This experience, amid my military and healthcare journey, affirms that true cultural humility transcends mere knowledge; it's about genuine understanding and respect.

There is no way that the US can have health equity with 40 - 50% of Americans mired behind with half enough primary care, mental health, women's health, and basic surgical workforce. It takes 350 billion in annual spending for 330 million to have sufficient primary care. Health equity discussions hide the point of most Americans left behind - a majority. There is no financial design to accomplish this. There is no one fighting the bigs on any of their well endowed procedural, technical, hospital, subspecialized, most lines of revenue fronts so that most Americans can have basic health access. Why do we let health care leaders talk about health equity, when they have designed worsening inequities for 40 years?

Learning about a patient’s story is vital to meeting them where they are. As a functional nutrition professional, story is where I always start. If you don’t understand who a person is, where they’ve been, why they want to get well or what their health goals are, it’s going to be challenging to help them understand what they can do to improve their outcomes. Meeting them where they can make sustainable changes within their willingness to change, cultural factors, spirituality, community, nutrition & lifestyle practices generally leads to greater client satisfaction & more lasting results. This became clear to me after sustaining an injury that landed me in a hospital & rehab. None of the above was taken into consideration with my care.

Advocacy is the core of what healthcare professionals must embody if we are to truly going to support holistic wellness and healing among our patients. We often encounter patients at the intersection of pain, anxiety, and desperation. They are mentally, physically, emotionally, and socially exhausted and are not always able to advocate for themselves. Social and racial justice are necessary in our work and we must address the factors that drive health inequities. Regardless of the our areas of practice (social work, medicine, nursing, OT, etc.), we have an ethical mandate to be culturally responsive, ensure equity and justice in our policies and practice, and address gaps in our systems that disproportionally harm some more than others.

Digital equity is key to health equity. 1) Behind the scenes, data portability through national, secure exchanges is key to ensuring that a patient’s record follows them through through this healthcare journey. 2) Patients need support to access digital health programs, including EHR patient portals, so that all patients have access to the same level of care