Poverty and Healthcare in Los Angeles
In healthcare, revealing all the specific obstacles low-income patients experience is vital to
offering them proper and sensitive support. In the Journal of Pediatric Nursing, Murray,
Sepulveda, and Baird (2022) examine the changes in poverty simulation for healthcare workers'
perception of poverty. In examining the impact of experiential learning on promoting empathy
and advocacy in clinical contexts, the study involves placing participants into impoverished
environments that represent the reality of poverty. This study fills a significant void in the
literature on the use of simulations for healthcare education, with an emphasis on the role of
simulation in making transformative changes to the perceptions and behaviors of healthcare
workers that would ultimately benefit patient care.
Murray, Sepulveda, and Baird conducted a detailed study in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing to
provide insight into how negative attitudes towards poverty affected the care given to those from
poor backgrounds. They incorporated their research on the ability to increase empathy and
knowledge among healthcare providers by incorporating experiential learning through the
simulation of poverty.
The researchers believed that by taking the practitioners through different poverty-related role
plays, there would be changes in the practitioners' attitudes, hence the quality of care provided to
economically oppressed patients. This hypothesis arose from the acknowledged lack of
compassion and comprehension, which has been noticed in the interactions between medical
personnel and patients from different social classes.
In their longitudinal study, Murray et al. (2022) used a structured poverty simulation exercise
implemented within a healthcare setting involving professionals. This enabled a controlled
environment where learners could engage with cases portraying the challenges that people facing
poverty go through. That is, by examining a change in the attitudes to poverty before and after
the simulation and tracking it over time, the researchers could consider the effectiveness of such
an approach to experiential learning.
The study's findings revealed compelling results: In the study, healthcare practitioners' awareness
of poverty solutions and low-earning lifestyles seemed higher after the poverty simulation
exercise. More importantly, the findings highlighted that the changes in attitude were maintained
over time, which argued for the efficiency of the simulation in shaping the participants' beliefs
regarding poverty. This underlines that leadership experiences are essential to further training
interventions targeted at health care professionals. Their application might enhance the capacities
of such interventions to nurture augmented levels of empathy in treatment approaches toward
patients.
Similar to the methods used by Murray et al. (2022), Ponce et al. (2024) conducted a study that
sought to explore the geo-demographic variation in potentially avoidable hospitalizations and
emergency visits within Los Angeles County. Their studies found substantial differences in
healthcare availability and utilization and the differential possibility of adverse medical events in
provinces with comparatively lower SES. The variation in CHN and PCP access by rurality
illustrated profound disparities in healthcare access within the county. It proposed a structural
explanation for disparities that patients face within the healthcare system.
Expanding on their findings from previous years, as well as using data collected from various
healthcare settings in Los Angeles County, Ponce et al. (2024) underscored the need to redress
the identified disparities. Their conclusions highlighted the need to consider better resource
mobilization and policy interventions targeting enhanced access to healthcare and eventually
minimizing the incidence of redundant episodes among underprivileged groups. It also helped to
explain the geographical allocation of social injustice in the area of healthcare. It campaigned to
create awareness of proactive measures that would support the goal of equal health for the entire
community.
In another nationwide study that brought advanced understanding on top of healthcare disparity
necessities, Sepassi et al. (2023) examined health literacy among immigrant populations and US-
born, more telling racial/ethnic minorities. Their research aimed to uncover significant
differences in health literacy levels attributable to immigrant status, a factor that often intersects
with socio-economic disadvantage and cultural barriers to healthcare access.
In the Sepassi et al. (2023) study on the health literacy of immigrants, it was established that
subjects of different racial and ethnic origins had poorer records than native Americans. This led
to the loss of focus on the plight of immigrants who continued to struggle to comprehend
complicated health care systems to arrive at rational health decisions. This study showed that it is
about time to develop culturally appropriate health education and specific interventions to
increase health literacy yields from immigrant patient populations so that they can gain the
enhanced capacity to navigate and utilize health services.
The consequences of the study conducted by Sepassi et al. (2023) are closely related to the seven
dimensions involved in discussing health equity and social determinants of health. Finally, by
mentioning immigrant status as a predictor for health literacy, the study acknowledged the need
to create health care for all policies to accommodate the needs of diverse groups. It is essential to
gather such knowledge to develop major public health approaches in deciding on equality or
equal access to healthcare for all citizens, regardless of their socio-economic or immigration
status.
In conclusion, the works of Murray et al. (2022), Ponce et al. (2024), and Sepassi et al. (2023)
shed concurrent light on several potential directions of healthcare disparities and the importance
of developing effective strategies to combat these issues. These studies range from improving
healthcare providers' empathy by implementing experiential learning to correcting geographic
and socio-economic discrepancies in accessibility and knowledge of healthcare services so that
researchers and practitioners can understand the factors that impact health.
In the future, state agencies, clinicians, health systems, and other relevant stakeholders, such as
community-based organizations, must engage in policy planning and delivery processes to
enhance health equity and ensure optimal healthcare delivery for vulnerable groups. With
improved social determinants of health knowledge and equality in healthcare systems, a better
future will be established where everyone will enjoy healthcare services regardless of his/ her
color, sex, age, wealth, or marital status.
Murray, P. M., Sepulveda, A., & Baird, J. (2022). Longitudinal impact of a poverty simulation
on healthcare practitioners' attitudes towards poverty. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 64, 24-
30.DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2022.01.016
https://www.pediatricnursing.org/article/S0882-5963(22)00027-6/abstract
Sepassi, A., Garcia, S., Tanjasiri, S. et al. Predicted Health Literacy Disparities Between
Immigrant and US-Born Racial/Ethnic Minorities: A Nationwide Study. J GEN INTERN MED
38, 2364–2373 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-023-08082-x
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-023-08082-x
Ponce, N. A., Babey, S. H., Meng, Y. Y., Stigers, S., Shimkhada, R., Kadiyala, S., ... &
Batchelor, E. (2024). Geographic Disparities in Preventable Hospitalizations and Emergency
Department Visits in Los Angeles County.
