Exploring the impacts of organisational structure,policy and practice on the health inequalities of marginalised communities: Illustrative cases from the UK healthcare system

This paper explores how organisational structure, policies and practices in healthcare can inadvertently disadvantage marginalised populations (e.g. individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds) and reinforce health inequalities. We draw upon three diverse UK healthcare settings (long term care institutions, high security hospitals and community pharmacies) to illustrate how systemic injustices negatively impact on access to care, treatment and health outcomes. The first case study considers the care of older people within nursing homes; specifically the disempowering effects of this service structure and impacts of choice reduction upon health and their access to health provision. The second case study explores the impact of security restrictions upon patients within high security hospitals, focusing particularly on the maintenance of relationships and support networks outside of the hospital. The third and final case study, draws upon a national community pharmacy medicine management service to illustrate ways in which policies and guidelines inadvertently obstruct patients' engagement with the service within a community setting. We draw upon these settings to highlight inequalities within different contexts and to illustrate the ways in which well intended services can inadvertently disadvantage marginalised communities in multiple ways.     

A self-reported survey of Alzheimer's centers in Southwestern Pennsylvania

Directors of nursing at 23 nursing homes with Alzheimer's units in Southwestern Pennsylvania completed a self‐reported survey of 12 questions. Responses from the self‐administered questionnaires (100% response rate) revealed a wide variation in the staff categories assessing the oral health status of newly admitted residents with AD. The respondents described oral examinations that were incomplete when compared to the oral indicators listed in the Minimum Data Set. All nursing homes reported that oral hygiene was provided each day. The number of residents in a facility had a significant effect on the frequency of oral hygiene provided. Only 52% of the facilities reported yearly oral examinations for this population. According to the respondents, dental treatment was typically performed on‐site. The oral health care costs were paid by Medicare, Medicaid, the residents/family members, or by other undescribed resources. Insufficient time, staff, and training, as well as uncooperative behavior, were identified as barriers to optimum oral health care for residents with AD. Additional staff, specialized training, and increased government reimbursement were suggested to improve the oral health care for this group of older adults. For future studies, review of medical records and on‐site evaluation of the oral health care at these facilities should be required to verify the reported practices.     

Psychosocial Effects of Physical and Verbal Abuse in Postmenopausal Women

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological effects of physical and verbal abuse in a cohort of older women.METHODS This observational cohort study was conducted at 40 clinical sites nationwide that are part of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study. We surveyed 93,676 women aged 50 to 79 years using the mental health subscales and the combined mental component summary (MCS) score of the RAND Medical Outcomes Study 36-item instrument.RESULTS At baseline, women reporting exposure to physical abuse only, verbal abuse only, or both physical and verbal abuse had a greater number of depressive symptoms (1.6,1.6, and 3 more symptoms, respectively) and lower MCS scores (4.6, 5.4, and 8.1 lower scores, respectively) than women not reporting abuse. Compared with women who had no exposure to abuse, women had a greater increase in the number of depressive symptoms when they reported a 3-year incident exposure to physical abuse only (0.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], −0.21 to 0.60), verbal abuse only (0.18; 95% CI, 0.11 to 0.24), or both physical and verbal abuse (0.15; 95% CI, −0.05 to 0.36); and they had a decrease in MCS scores when they reported a 3-year incident exposure to physical abuse only (−1.12; 95% CI, −2.45 to 0.12), verbal abuse only (−0.55; 95% CI, −0.75 to −0.34), and both physical and verbal abuse (−0.44; 95% CI, −1.11 to −0.22) even after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics.CONCLUSION Exposure to abuse in older, functionally independent women is associated with poorer mental health. The persistence of these findings suggests that clinicians need to consider abuse exposure in their older female patients who have depressive symptoms. Clinicians caring for older women should identify women at risk for physical and verbal abuse and intervene appropriately.     

血清痩素对老年男性骨质疏松的影响

目的 探讨血清瘦素水平对老年男性骨质疏松的影响。方法 选取年龄在60-92岁的158例老年男性，采用双能X线法（DXA）检测骨密度，并根据测值将受试者分为骨质疏松组与非骨质疏松组，用放射免疫法（RIA）检测两组空腹血清瘦素浓度，进行比较研究。结果 血清瘦素测值在不同年龄组间的差异无统计学意义，而在肥胖组与非肥胖组间有显著差异（P〈0．01）。在老年男性骨质疏松组血清瘦素测值明显低于非骨质疏松组，两者具有显著差异（P〈0．05）。结论 血清瘦索测值并不随老年男性的年龄而变化。但与老年男性的体重指数呈正相关，血清瘦素对老年男性骨质疏松有较好的预示及保护作用。     

Disturbed behaviour in dementia sufferers: A comparison of three nursing home settings

In order to determine whether a specialist psychogeriatric nursing home was fulfilling its intended role of caring for the most behaviourally disturbed dementia sufferers, 24 of its demented residents were compared with 28 demented individuals discharged from a psychiatric unit to ordinary nursing homes and 30 mobile dementia sufferers in nursing home wards of a geriatric centre. Those in the psychogeriatric nursing home showed more disturbed behaviours than those in the other two settings. Scores on the Rating Scale for Aggressive Behaviour in the Elderly were compared with degree of cognitive impairment for the first time in the literature and showed no correlation with degree of cognitive impairment for the first time in the literature and showed no correlation with congnitive performance.     

老年疝环充填式无张力疝修补术的应用

目的：探讨老年人疝环充填式无张力疝修补术的近期疗效。方法：对35例次老年人疝环充填式无张力疝修补术的临床资料进行回顾性分析。结果：平均手术时间40min，住院天数3-7d。术后8-30h均能下床活动。全部未使用镇痛药物。并发症：急性尿潴留1例，恶心呕吐1例，术后低热2例。切口感染率及近期复发率均为0。结论：疝环充填式无张力疝修补术具有操作简便、创伤小、恢复快、无张力、低复发率、适应症宽的优点而成为老年腹股沟疝的理想术式。