Essay on Vulnerable: Medicine and Vulnerable Population Kelley

Submitted By kelzac12
Words: 437
Pages: 2

A Vulnerable Population

Kelley Underwood-Williams
NUR/440
March 23, 201
Susan Avallone
A Vulnerable Population

Vulnerability is a general concept meaning "susceptibility" and has a particular connotation in health care of patients being “at risk for health problems” (Chesnay & Anderson, 2012). A vulnerable population is a group of people who are underprivileged in some way. Typically, they have fewer resources to dedicate to their health. The vulnerable population in the article “More Care for Vulnerable Patients: Special nursing team will help people make healthy transition from hospital to home” are the elderly and “those with multiple complex conditions” (Givetash, 2013).
In the article from Ontario, a nursing team is trying to help a vulnerable group get and stay healthy to decrease their potential readmission to the local hospitals. According to Linda Givetash, a small group of nurses will visit the patients that are discharged within the past 48 hours. They will assess the patient's learning of their diagnosis and treatments. The treatments can be medication and follow-up visits to physicians. The nurses would determine if the living arrangements are safe and make sure that the patients have their medications, they know what they are for and how to take them. The nurse will check with the patient's pharmacist to make sure the prescription information is correct. If the patients do not have a primary care physician, the team will help them find one. They will check back with these people to see if the help they are providing is useful and decreasing readmissions. By providing these patients with correct influence for them to take charge of their health, they will become less vulnerable.
There can be many barriers to successful health care for these patients. There is a knowledge deficit, financial issues, transportation issues and others. As