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Introduction
The community that will be addressed in this paper comprises individuals living in the city of Miami, Florida. As the windshield survey revealed, the community does not appear to be suffering from serious social problems. This paper pertains to the population of Hispanics/Latinos in Miami who have diabetes. The purpose of the current paper is to identify a population in the given community and evaluate the health risk related to the timely diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy that is faced by this population.
Vulnerable Population Overview
The vulnerable group that will be addressed in this paper is the population of Hispanics/Latinos of the city of Miami. It is vulnerable due to the fact that representatives of this ethnicity suffer from diabetes more frequently than other ethnic groups, such as non-Hispanic whites (approximately 16.9% as opposed to 10.2%); they also have a greater prevalence of diabetic retinopathy than Blacks and non-Hispanic whites (Tannenbaum et al., 2016). It should be noted that, as of 2011-2015 estimates, Hispanics or Latinos constituted approximately 75% of the city of Miamis population (United States Census Bureau, n.d.), so this ethnic group comprises the majority of the local population; nevertheless, as was stressed, nearly 16.9% of Hispanics/Latinos suffer from diabetes, so simple multiplication of these percentages reveals that about 12-13% of Miamis total population may be Hispanics/Latinos suffering from diabetes (clearly, the estimate is very approximate).
The windshield survey did not reveal any specific attitudes towards or conditions of Hispanics/Latinos in Miami. This is probably due to the fact that they constitute the majority of the citys population. However, the fact that this group is culturally diverse in itself (Schneiderman et al., 2014; Tannenbaum et al., 2016) might mean that some of the subgroups are socially disadvantaged and thus are e.g. unable to gain appropriate medical insurance, or practice healthy eating habits.
Strengths, Risk Factors, and/or Barriers
The risk factor in question is non-compliance of the Hispanics/Latinos suffering from diabetes with guidelines pertaining to ocular screening; only 61.8% of surveyed by Tannenbaum et al. (2016) Hispanics/Latinos with diabetes had undergone dilated eye examination within 12 months prior to surveying, which means that nearly 40% had not done so. This is a dangerous situation, for diabetic retinopathy, once it starts developing, it needs to be identified and addressed as early as possible (Tannenbaum et al., 2016).
One of the strengths of the Hispanic/Latinos ethnic group in the area in question is that they comprise the majority of the population of Miami (United States Census Bureau, n.d.), so it is unlikely that they should face discrimination related to racial or ethnic issues.
It should be noted, however, that the Hispanics/Latinos group is heterogeneous itself (Schneiderman et al., 2014; Tannenbaum et al., 2016), which means that cultural differences may pose a barrier to communication between subgroups, as well as between the whole Hispanics/Latinos group and other ethnic groups in Miami. This may make it more difficult to provide all the Hispanics/Latinos subgroups with information pertaining to the necessity of ocular screening for the individuals who suffer from diabetes.
Community Resources
There are several resources available for people with diabetes in Miami. For instance, the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami Health System supplies patients with care and consultancy, and works with health care providers; it also offers education services in English in Spanish (University of Miami Health System, n.d.). Another resource is The Florida Department of Health (n.d.), a governmental organization which proposes information for the interested individuals, and may also offer some general health programs. However, the specialized resources for the diabetic population that was found did not appear to be plentiful. It might be possible to assume that individuals from the group in question lack appropriate patient education services, which is a considerable gap.
Community Health Problem Diagnosis
Therefore, a community health problem that can be positively impacted by a community health nurse is the low percentage of Hispanic/Latino individuals suffering from diabetes that undergo a dilated eye examination on an annual basis. This is related to the topic area of Diabetes on the Healthy People website. The particular objective directly corresponding to this community health problem is to increase the proportion of adults with diabetes who have an annual dilated eye examination (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, n.d., para. 10).
Summary
On the whole, it should be stressed that the Hispanics/Latinos ethnic group is rather vulnerable to diabetes and that a significant proportion of this group (approximately 40%) do not undergo an annual dilated eye examination (Tannenbaum et al., 2016). Several factors may have an impact on this situation, for instance, the lack of availability of information in the given community, as well as the cultural diversity of the ethnic group, which also may serve as a barrier to gaining the required information about diabetes. An annual dilated eye examination is pivotal if diabetic retinopathy is to be identified at an early stage, where it can be treated more effectively so as to reduce the risk of the blindness of the diseased individual (Tannenbaum et al., 2016). Therefore, it is paramount for community health nurses to carry out measures aimed at increasing the proportion of individuals (of Hispanic/Latino origins in particular) who undergo an annual dilated eye examination in the city of Miami, Florida.
References
The Florida Department of Health. (n.d.). Diabetes.
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Diabetes: Objectives.Â
Schneiderman, N., Llabre, M., Cowie, C. C., Barnhart, J., Carnethon, M., Gallo, L. C.,&Teng, Y. (2014). Prevalence of diabetes among Hispanics/Latinos from diverse backgrounds: The Hispanic community health study/study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). Diabetes Care, 37(8), 2233-2239.
Tannenbaum, S. L., McClure, L. A., Zheng, D. D., Lam. B. L., Arheart, K. L., Joslin, C. E.,&Lee, D. J. (2016). Ocular screening adherence across Hispanic/Latino heritage groups with diabetes: results from the Ocular SOL ancillary to the Miami site of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, 4, 1-13.Â
United States Census Bureau. (n.d.). American factfinder: Miami city, Florida. Web.
University of Miami Health System. (n.d.). Diabetes Research Institute.Â
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