16
October
2019
|
10:12 AM
America/New_York

New Textbook Provides Effective Ways to Recognize, Address and Eliminate Health Disparities to Enable Equitable, Effective Health Care

(Cleveland) – Adam Perzynski, PhD; Ifeolorunbode (Bode) Adebambo, MD; and Sarah Schick, MA, have compiled a textbook, “Health Disparities, Weaving a New Understanding Through Case Narratives,” to provide an understanding of health disparities from the perspective of health care professionals and patients. Readers of the book engage in effective and emotional learning as well as practical and cognitive learning modes.

The book provides a series of rich cases depicting experiences, consistent with the preferred and traditional learning modality of health professions. Also included are activities tools, learning exercises, references and resources for further study.

This accessible volume challenges professionals to understand and help correct health disparities. Contributors focus on marginalized populations, the role of healthcare systems in perpetuating inequities, the need for deeper engagement and listening by professionals, and the need for advocacy within professional education and the political/policy arena.

The compelling case narratives at the core of the book illustrate the interrelated biopsychosocial components of patients’ health problems and the gradations of learning needed for practitioners to address them effectively. The book’s tools for developing a health disparities curriculum include a selection of workshop exercises, facilitator resources and a brief guide to writing effective case narratives. A sampling of the narratives: “Finding the Person in Patient-Centered Health Care” race/ethnicity/culture); “The Annual Big Girl / Big Boy Exchange” (gender); “Just Give Me Narcan and Let Me Go” (poverty/addiction); “Everyone Called Him Crazy” (immigration); “Adrift in the System” (disability); “Aging out of Pediatrics” (mental illness and stigma) and “Time to Leave” (LGBT).

“Health Disparities, Weaving a New Understanding Through Case Narratives,” will be of considerable interest to researchers and practitioners interested in public health, population health, health disparities and related fields such as sociology, social work and narrative medicine. Its wealth of educational features also makes it a quality training text.

The three editors are associated with The MetroHealth System in Cleveland, OH. Adam Perzynski, PhD, a sociologist, is at MetroHealth’s Center for Health Care Research and Policy and is an Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine. Ifeolorunbode (Bode) Adebambo, MD, is in MetroHealth’s Department of Family Medicine and is an Associate Professor at CWRU School of Medicine. Sarah Schick is a former research associate at MetroHealth’s Center for Health Care Research and Policy. She is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at CWRU. Dozens of clinicians from MetroHealth and other institutions around the country contributed chapters to the book.

“Health Disparities, Weaving a New Understanding Through Case Narratives,” was published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

It is available wherever books are sold, including:

https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030127701

https://www.amazon.com/Health-Disparities-Weaving-Understanding-Narratives/dp/3030127702

About The MetroHealth System

Founded in 1837, MetroHealth is leading the way to a healthier you and a healthier community through service, teaching, discovery, and teamwork. Cuyahoga County’s public, safety-net hospital system, MetroHealth meets people where they are, providing care through five hospitals, four emergency departments and more than 20 health centers. Each day, our nearly 9,000 employees focus on providing our community with equitable healthcare — through patient-focused research, access to care, and support services — that seeks to eradicate health disparities rooted in systematic barriers. For more information, visit metrohealth.org.