Professor Deborah Taira conducts in-depth research on health disparities that impact Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and wants to improve access to clinical trials.
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For many Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders with chronic health conditions, health interventions should include their family members or close friends, according to University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa public health research. The paper is published in
Researchers led by
Tetine Sentell, director of the Office of Public Health Studies in the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health, interviewed 22 adult patients who were hospitalized at The Queen’s Medical Center. The researchers asked the patients about the people in their lives who they turned to when they needed help with their health. Most patients were of Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander heritage.
PDF), updated in December 2020.
Creating patient- and family-centered councils
Specifically, healthcare organizations can engage in practices such as creating patient- and family-centered councils to understand patient and caregiver needs, ensuring support that allows all patients to feel comfortable using tools such as glucose monitors and pulse oximeters for remote care management, and offering telehealth appointments with true human connectivity, Sentell said.
Technology can play a strong role in improving organizational health literacy. Smartphone apps can improve the coordination of care between providers, and interactive patient-centered discharge toolkits can promote patients’ self-management skills when they go home from the hospital. However, patients who do not have access to technology, or do not understand it, need to be included in planning for organizational health literacy.