Addressing disparity in treatment received.

Abstract

To the Editor .— Certainly, as a health care professional that has practiced in a poverty-stricken area her whole career, I could understand the importance of the February 2004 Pediatrics article “Unmet Need for Routine and Specialty Care: Data From the National Survey of Children With Special Health Care Needs.”1 In my past experience as an obstetrics/gynecology/newborn nursery nurse, and in my current role as a pediatric nurse practitioner in training, I have seen first-hand medically underserved women and children and how their problems are aggravated by the lack of regular medical care. More often than not, the patients we see are nonwhite, uninsured, or on some type of entitlement program. This is in stark contrast to my peers in more affluent areas, many of whom rarely, if ever, are exposed to patients who have real issues in securing adequate health care, housing, and nutrition. Raising the awareness regarding the disparity in the treatment received by poor and nonwhite children, compared with more affluent ones, is very important. It is equally as important that all of the factors that affect health care access be addressed. Although a significant number of the children in my county, including those seen in my clinical site, are near or below national poverty levels, 2 we do have some patients from more affluent families come in for treatment. More often than not, the poor children are sicker when they come in than are the others and also lack in the routine preventive care that the more affluent children receive. A large number of the children we see are not only economically challenged …