When facility planners and designers think about healthcare accessibility, they often think about providing accessible parking spaces and restrooms; level or ramped building entrances; walkways, waiting areas and wide doorways that allow for wheelchair access; and examination rooms that provide a sufficient turning radius for wheelchair users. In other words, they think about access to the healthcare facility-which is not exactly the same as access to healthcare.
For the patient, getting to the facility, into the facility, and through the facility are only the first steps. To access healthcare, individuals must also be able to access and utilize the equipment required for care: examination tables; examination chairs; weight scales; x-ray and mammography machines; and even exercise, rehabilitation, and fitness equipment.
Unfortunately, many healthcare facilities do not provide full access to care, because they fail to provide accessible equipment. A nationwide survey of people with disabilities, conducted in 2005, found that 74.9% of those surveyed had more than a moderate degree of difficulty accessing examinations tables; similarly, 68.2% had significant problems accessing x-ray equipment; and more than 50% (for each) had difficulty accessing x-ray equipment and weight scales.
People with disabilities represent 19.3% of the population over the age of five, according to the 2000 census, and many fail to receive adequate healthcare because of accessibility issues. This is especially important because people with disabilities sometimes require more frequent healthcare services than those without disabilities. For example, those with spinal cord injuries are four times as likely to develop diabetes as the rest of the population, and people with limited mobility are more prone to low bone density and fractures. Cardiovascular diseases are also more prevalent in this population.
And it is not just people who self-identify as having a disability that lack access to healthcare equipment. The percentage of older adults is increasing rapidly as the “baby boomers” age. Older adults represented 12% of the population in 1997; they will represent 20% of the population by 2030. They are the largest group, by far, in terms of healthcare expenditures. Many of these older adults have activity limitations due to conditions such as arthritis, which affects more than 60% of those over the age of 65.
The consequences of inaccessible equipment
Inaccessible equipment impacts the quality of care and poses safety risks to patients and healthcare providers, especially nurses. When weight scales are inaccessible, it is difficult, if not impossible, to adequately monitor medical conditions such as congestive heart failure and diabetes, for which even modest weight changes can be clinically relevant. Further, medication dosages cannot be adequately adjusted for weight, based on only patient “guesstimates” of what they weigh.
Similarly, when examination tables are inaccessible, patients may receive only a cursory or incomplete physical examination. Likewise, when x-ray equipment and mammography machines are not accessible, or require extreme indignities, embarrassment or frustration to access, patients fail to have the screening examinations they need.
Comments
Post new comment