Deck 2: Vulnerable Populations

Question 1

Explain the impact of healthcare disparities and vulnerability on health outcomes.

Answer 1

Healthcare disparities comprise differences in healthcare quality among individuals or groups with regard to access, treatment options, and preventative services. Segments of the global population experience social inequalities and are at risk for poor health outcomes. While any individual can become vulnerable at any point in their life, as documented in the literature, health outcomes and vulnerability fall along a social gradient and poorer people experience poorer health.

Question 2

For the culturally competent nurse practitioner, the delivery of patient care is influenced by which principle?

A) High-income countries are not subject to health disparities.
B) Access to primary health care services is a human right.
C) Gaps in health outcomes between different groups of people are inevitable.
D) Certain forms of health inequities are considered to be fair and just.

Answer 2

Access to primary health care services is a human right.

Question 3

The nurse practitioner explores a patient's social determinants of health. When assessing lifestyle and behaviors, which question does the nurse practitioner ask the patient?

A) "Do you use tobacco products?"
B) "Are you currently employed?"
C) "Do you have sufficient food?"
D) "What is your level of education?"

Answer 3

"Do you use tobacco products?"

Question 4

The nurse practitioner plans to advocate for improving access to health care among all populations. Which strategy does the nurse practitioner implement to advocate at the macrosystem level?

A) Becoming motivated to act on the behalf of other individuals
B) Developing cultural skills
C) Working through the chain of command of a healthcare organization
D) Gaining insight into self

Question 5

Describe key social and environmental factors that coexist with poverty.

Question 6

Discuss factors that contribute to financial insecurity among the elderly.

Question 7

Discuss transgenerational trauma and its impact on disease development.

Question 8

Describe the nurse practitioner's approach to assessing and assisting an individual who may be subject to human trafficking.

Question 9

When discussing gender and sexuality, a patient identifies as being "gender fluid." The nurse practitioner understands the patient's gender identification to be reflective of which self-perception?

A) The patient does not identify with any gender.
B) The patient identifies as mixed or neutral gender.
C) The patient identifies with the gender assigned at birth.
D) The patient's gender is not static but shifts.

Question 10

When discussing sexual orientation, the patient tells the nurse practitioner, "I view myself as being female, but I am attracted to other people regardless of how they view their gender or gender identity." Which sexual preference best describes the patient's perspective?

A) Pansexual
B) Homosexual
C) Asexual
D) Bisexual

Question 11

Identify factors which makes a person or population vulnerable?

Question 12

Is there a specific vulnerable population that you want to learn more about and why?

Question 13

How would you begin developing a needs assessment on a particular vulnerable population?

Question 14

Mary comes in to the urgent care clinic with a broken nose. She appears to be a young teen, perhaps 13 or 14, but says she is 21 years old. She is disheveled and very quiet, answering only with a few words and keeps her eyes downcast. There is a couple (man and woman) who appear to be in their 30s accompanying the girl to be treated. They continue to stare at her and refuse to leave her side. Your attending physician colleague is busy transferring a trauma patient. What are your next steps in specific order?

Question 15

Reach out to an NP working in the prison system or with the homeless. Interview this person about how to approach patients. Does the interviewee deal with legal issues on a daily basis that impede providing health care in the manner preferred?