Navigating Healthcare Through Advocacy

Healthcare within the United States is at risk of being inaccessible. One of the problems is having conversations about your health if people in charge aren’t inclusive to your insurance and treatments. The refusal of financial assistance for medical expenses in the US is very telling on how the future of medicine is going to look for both staff and patients worldwide. Medical professionals continue to overlook patients because of their underlying bias against women and underrepresented communities. This will cause issues for people who depend on doctors to survive.

Make Medicine Our Problem, Not Yours

One area of medicine that overlooks their patients frequently is mental health. Patients who discuss their symptoms may be experiencing comorbidity. Mental health disorders can occur at the same time another disorder appears, creating a challenging environment for a patient to navigate through. For example, dissociative identity disorder could trigger other conditions like anxiety in the midst of understanding your identity. However, patients often get misdiagnosed because of the complexity of their condition. Many people who are navigating their mental illness fall victim to being misdiagnosed by professionals who have adjusted to operating under a fixed diagnostic criteria. This creates a challenge to patients who cannot be reevaluated from their misdiagnosis. 

“Feedback needs to provide clinicians with sufficient information so that they can move in an adaptive direction. The simpler the system, the more helpful statistical quality control data are as a basis for self-correction.” -  Beth Crandall and Robert Wears

Conflict with Communicating Healthcare

Most people don’t feel secure in communicating their symptoms to their doctor. Asking for a prescription feels like an interrogation in justifying your medical concern. Doctors visits are constantly overlooked for younger patients when parents refuse to advocate for their children. And everything in between is corrupted with doctors who hold poor judgement against their patients because of their race or gender. Being on the receiving end of medicine just to hear about our healthcare being misinterpreted creates discomfort between patients and medical professionals.

The Pushback on Politics Towards our Healthcare 

Accessing healthcare should be at the hands of people in need, not people in power. The legislation that’s been made against medicaid, abortion and medical bills continues to place limits on how we can take care of ourselves. Patients have to take back control of where we can provide and access urgent care for people in need. Is it our fault that the world allows various foods and products to keep us ill while relying on the medicine that’s already a privilege to have?  

Planned Parenthood continues to share updates on where women can receive resources and information on abortion and healthcare. Stay connected to organizations that prioritize our care. Taking a stance can look like connecting with professionals who offer assistance or activists who aid in funding. You can access clinics through the NAFCClinics.org and PanFoundation to learn more ways to regain autonomy over your healthcare by learning more ways to stay involved.

Sources

Crandall, Beth, and Robert L Wears. “Expanding Perspectives on Misdiagnosis.” The American Journal of Medicine, 2008, www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(08)00153-8/fulltext.