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American Healthcare

Introduction

Overall, most research indicates that the foreign-born population has significant advantages in terms of various health measures. However, the foreign-born population is poorer, less likely to have a high school diploma, and less likely to have access to health care than is the native-born population, they still appear to maintain a better overall health status than the U.S.-born population. Specifically, native-born adults are 50% more likely to be obese than are the foreign-born adults and are three times more likely to be smokers. Most recent foreign-born persons are healthier than native-born persons, and even immigrants who have lived in the United States for 10 years are healthier overall than native-born U.S. residents. However, the longer immigrants remain in the United States, the closer their health status becomes to that of the native-born population. (Reynolds, 2002, 123-140)

Discussion

IPV

Nurses, who receive a broad spectrum of training in different disciplines, also reported that there is an ongoing lack of adequate screening for IPV by health care providers and that instruction on recognizing and treating IPV is minimal in most schools. For example, that although 70% of 557 nurse practitioners surveyed had received 1 to 4 hr of IPV education during their basic education or during their advanced practice education, most felt that they were not adequately prepared to conduct a universal IPV screening. Respondents also stated that classes tended to focus on the “cycle of violence,” whereas little time was devoted to legal issues and safety planning for victims. Furthermore, many times IPV education was presented in stand-alone lectures and, subsequently, not enough time was given or importance attached to imparting knowledge, changing attitudes, and facilitating the development of clinical skills necessary to perform competent IPV screening, intervention, and prevention. The importance of screening for IPV has also been recognized by dental schools, and in 1996 the American Dental Association (ADA) enacted a policy encouraging the inclusion of IPV information into dental school curricula. However, a study conducted in 1997 and 1998 by Love et al, found that out of 321 general dentists from the ADA's national list of members and non-members, the majority of respondents had not received any education related to IPV in dental school (71%) or in continuing education courses (77%). Moreover, 87% of responding dentists reported that they had never screened for domestic violence, and 18% never screened even when patients displayed visible signs of trauma on their heads or necks. (Goldberg, 2004, 33-53)Reasons given for this non-screening included dentists not considering domestic violence the cause of the injury or dental personnel being afraid to address the issue with the possible victim. According to a study because head and neck injuries account for 65% to 75% of the physical trauma that occurs during IPV incidents, dental personnel are in a favorable position to identify signs of IPV during their extra oral and intra oral examinations and, in addition, the unique knowledge and skills of dental professionals are often necessary to treat the oro-facial and dental structures ...