Physician Assessment of Social Determinants of Health: A Necessary Component in Improving Care of Patients
The importance of building a therapeutic relationship between a physician and a patient is taught early on in a medical student's training, specifically through the practice of obtaining a patient history. This process consists of gathering information in four main categories: the history of t...
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2021-08-01
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doaj-1995c68bc68e4078a37829b07c5a44672021-08-27T12:00:15ZengUniversity of OttawaUniversity of Ottawa Journal of Medicine2292-650X2292-65182021-08-0111S110.18192/uojm.v11iS1.5933Physician Assessment of Social Determinants of Health: A Necessary Component in Improving Care of PatientsEmaan Chaudry0University of Ottawa The importance of building a therapeutic relationship between a physician and a patient is taught early on in a medical student's training, specifically through the practice of obtaining a patient history. This process consists of gathering information in four main categories: the history of the present illness, personal social history, past medical history, and family history. Each piece of information obtained within these categories is vital in ensuring a patient receives appropriate and effective care. Specifically, a social history consists of asking about a patient's relationship status, support system, home environment, interests, exercise, nutritional habits, substance use, and sexual history. To complete a successful and full social history, one should try to address the social determinants of health. As per the Government of Canada’s website, social determinants of health “refer to a specific group of social and economic factors within the broader determinants of health. These relate to an individual’s place in society such as income, education or employment” [1]. Consequently, a critical component of a complete social history interview should be investigating a patients socioeconomic status. Low socioeconomic status (LSES) has been found to play a role in incidence and susceptibility to a variety of health conditions. As such, I believe that screening for and asking questions pertaining to the socioeconomic status of a patient should be considered a vital and essential component of every patient assessment. https://uottawa.scholarsportal.info/ottawa/index.php/uojm-jmuo/article/view/5933Health disparitiespatient caresocioeconomic status |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Emaan Chaudry |
spellingShingle |
Emaan Chaudry Physician Assessment of Social Determinants of Health: A Necessary Component in Improving Care of Patients University of Ottawa Journal of Medicine Health disparities patient care socioeconomic status |
author_facet |
Emaan Chaudry |
author_sort |
Emaan Chaudry |
title |
Physician Assessment of Social Determinants of Health: A Necessary Component in Improving Care of Patients |
title_short |
Physician Assessment of Social Determinants of Health: A Necessary Component in Improving Care of Patients |
title_full |
Physician Assessment of Social Determinants of Health: A Necessary Component in Improving Care of Patients |
title_fullStr |
Physician Assessment of Social Determinants of Health: A Necessary Component in Improving Care of Patients |
title_full_unstemmed |
Physician Assessment of Social Determinants of Health: A Necessary Component in Improving Care of Patients |
title_sort |
physician assessment of social determinants of health: a necessary component in improving care of patients |
publisher |
University of Ottawa |
series |
University of Ottawa Journal of Medicine |
issn |
2292-650X 2292-6518 |
publishDate |
2021-08-01 |
description |
The importance of building a therapeutic relationship between a physician and a patient is taught early on in a medical student's training, specifically through the practice of obtaining a patient history. This process consists of gathering information in four main categories: the history of the present illness, personal social history, past medical history, and family history. Each piece of information obtained within these categories is vital in ensuring a patient receives appropriate and effective care. Specifically, a social history consists of asking about a patient's relationship status, support system, home environment, interests, exercise, nutritional habits, substance use, and sexual history. To complete a successful and full social history, one should try to address the social determinants of health. As per the Government of Canada’s website, social determinants of health “refer to a specific group of social and economic factors within the broader determinants of health. These relate to an individual’s place in society such as income, education or employment” [1]. Consequently, a critical component of a complete social history interview should be investigating a patients socioeconomic status. Low socioeconomic status (LSES) has been found to play a role in incidence and susceptibility to a variety of health conditions. As such, I believe that screening for and asking questions pertaining to the socioeconomic status of a patient should be considered a vital and essential component of every patient assessment.
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topic |
Health disparities patient care socioeconomic status |
url |
https://uottawa.scholarsportal.info/ottawa/index.php/uojm-jmuo/article/view/5933 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT emaanchaudry physicianassessmentofsocialdeterminantsofhealthanecessarycomponentinimprovingcareofpatients |
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