This content was produced independently by The American Journal of Managed Care® and is not approved by the American Academy of Dermatology.
Rebecca Vasquez, MD, FAAD, Associate Professor in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, stressed the essential role of taking charge of social determinants of health at reduce disparities In dermatologyespecially in poorly served communities. She pleaded for a more diverse dermatology workforce to improve patient confidence and improve results.
Vasquez referred to a previous patient during the session in which she participated, Fill the gap: approach the social determinants of health to reduce health disparities in dermatology this year Annual conference of the American Academy of Dermatology Where it addressed the significant impact of the cultural context and socioeconomic status on the perceptions of dermatological health patients. It highlighted the patients’ desire to request care, citing the need for culturally relevant public education to raise awareness of the skin and encourage timely intervention.
This transcription has been slightly modified for more clarity; The legends have been generated automatically.
Transcription
How do you address the obstacles to membership, such as limited access to pharmacies, financial constraints or linguistic differences, which disproportionately affect the poorly served communities?
We treat this, not rarely. I work in a security security hospital and I would say that we are working very hard to find affordable medicines. Sometimes we use Goodrx. Honestly, it is sometimes cheaper for them to obtain them in this way than with their insurance. We try, if possible, to compose drugs so that they are more accessible to them. There are drugs that are approved by the FDA, but they are thousands of dollars, which we can be aggravated for patients at a cheaper price.
We work with many patient assistance programs. We work side by side with patients to approve them. Patient assistance programs, for example, are really important to treat psoriasis and eczema. We also know that some patients cannot even go to the pharmacy. As far as possible, we are trying to provide correspondence drugs. These are some of the ways we really work to defend our patients to get the therapies they need.
How does the experience experienced by the patient, including his cultural history, his socioeconomic status and his personal beliefs, influence their perception of dermatological health and their desire to ask for care?
I think this is a very important question when you talk about dermatology because I would say that some people think that access to dermatology in some respects, is a privilege. You must sometimes have access to a primary care doctor, and some people do not even have access to it. For me, I didn’t even know what dermatologists have done until I arrived at the medical school. I also grew up without insurance, so I always thought that the family doctor had done everything.
I had just explained a case, we had seen a patient, a Latina patient, who had come for a nail change diagnosed like a melanoma, and she was shocked. She was completely shocked that it was a melanoma. She said that she had never seen anyone who looked like her of melanoma.
Unfortunately, it was so advanced that she had to have an amputation, but there were also the problems that were deserved, perhaps simply because you are not familiar with the health care system. She was not from here, so she didn’t know him. I think that sometimes our perceptions of skin diseases are limited, simply because we have not seen anyone who had it. It can be more difficult to talk to patients about potential therapies.
If they think “well, I have never seen anyone. How am I supposed to believe that this is what I have?” I think it can shape the patient’s experience. I think that what we have to do as a specialty is to do better to provide a culturally relevant public education on the skin conditions that affect these patients who may not have access to us, who do not even realize that they are at risk, but provide this education as publicly as possible, so that they are aware that it can affect them, and they are prepared when they see something, they are ready to see someone.