Heart Disease : The Leading Cause Of Death Of Native Americans, Alaskan Natives And Pacific Islanders

A common value shared throughout this community is allowing your patients to trust you with their health needs. Allowing them to trust you builds a relationship with the patients, as well as others in your profession.

Though warfare and attacks on entire villages took a definite toll on the populations of Native Americans, disease was by far the biggest killer. We’ve all heard the stories of smallpox infected blankets being given to the Native Americans, and other such atrocities, but I was simply dumbfounded at the actual numbers of dead due to Old World diseases being introduced to the New World, North America. While it has been somewhat difficult for scholars to determine the exact count of Indians who died from disease, they have fairly accurate estimates.

In the article “What Do Nurses Really Do?”, Suzanne Gordon explores what nurses truly do. She concludes that nurses “save lives, prevent complications, prevent suffering, and save money” (Gordon 2006). Nurses provide care for their patients in the physical and emotional sense. Emotionally caring for a patient and being sensitive to his or her needs result from interacting with patients while performing the skills and using the knowledge that nurses learned in school. Nurses grow in their skills, knowledge, and attitudes through practice. Quality and safety education for nursing incorporates competencies that all nurses must use in their practice. These nursing competencies include evidence-based nursing practice, quality improvement, safety, teamwork and collaboration, patient-centered care, and informatics.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the major health problem that most of the countries are facing today and one of such countries is Australia. It is estimated that about 1 million of Australian population is affected by cardiovascular diseases and is among the leading cause of death in Australia ("Department of Health | Cardiovascular disease", 2016). It is also observed that the Aboriginal population of Australia is more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than other Australians ("Department of Health | Cardiovascular disease", 2016). In order to examine the health issue such as cardiovascular disease among Aboriginal men and women using social

Among the different ethnic and socioeconomic groups, each is associated with health disadvantages. While some have more advantages than others, the most disadvantaged groups are among the Blacks and Native Americans. These two groups have the highest rates of several health disparities. The two groups, Blacks, and Native Americans have the highest rates in infant mortality and cardiovascular disease. Research has shown several key risk factors that are associated with these high rates. Some include poor environment, lack of access to care, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and high blood pressure. These health disparities and disadvantages are what causes Blacks and Native Americans to have higher mortality rates.

The Native American culture is the original culture of the United States. Members of Native American tribes live throughout the country. “There are an estimated 4.9 million persons, in 565 federally recognized tribes who are classified as American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AI), alone or in combination with one or more other designated racial classifications. This demographic group compromises 1.6% of the U.S. population” (Horowitz, 2012). Wisconsin is home to the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago), Ojibwa (Chippewa), and the Potawatomi tribes (“American”, 2014). It is important for nurses within this state, as well as any other state, to understand the Native American belief system in order to provide a quality healthcare experience. Nurses are the primary point of contact in the healthcare setting. Client advocacy is one of the nurse’s major roles. Therefore, the nurse should have the highest level of diversity understanding for the cultures within the local region.

Native Americans have the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Native Americans are 60% more likely to be obese and are over twice as likely to have diabetes than the general population. These numbers are even higher for Southwest Native Americans. But their diet is very similar to the rest of modern society. So why do Native Americans suffer these conditions at higher rates than the general population? The answer may be found in new research that is beginning to point to a genetic cause for these conditions. In a study by Peggy Halpern, Ph.D. for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, she found that historically Native Americans of the

I work in the coronary care unit. Coronary artery disease is the most common chronic disease I see in my patients. According to American Heart Association, heart disease is the no. 1 cause of death in the United States, killing over 370,000 people a year (Heart and Stroke Statistics, 2015). It also states that about 750,000 people in the U.S. have heart attacks each year among them, about 116,000 die. It is scary to know that cardiovascular disease claims more lives each

As with many races and ethnicities, Native Americans have had the front row seat in social injustices related to gender and race from the social institutions in the United States. Native Americans faced much discrimination along with other groups when it came to educational institutions and businesses. In education, many young children had lower math and writing skills leading to fewer high school diplomas (Sarche & Spicer, 2008). In labor, Native Americans had high unemployment rates and a lower labor force than the rest of the demographic population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). They also have problems with poverty since more than twenty-five percent of this group live below the poverty line (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). Additionally, there are high rates of violent victimization and contributing factors such as childhood trauma that lead to overall high deaths. A major contributing factor to these deaths is alcoholism which exceeds the US rates by seven times (Sarche & Spicer, 2008). Many of these statistics indicate great injustice. Furthermore, according to the Indian Health Services, American Indians have lower health and life expectancy when compared to the rest of America (2015). These staggering statistics point out some prevalent inequalities in modern social institutions that exist with Native Americans.

Healthcare is an ever changing entity with an ever changing population of clients. In current day 2016, the United Sates has become a melting pot of many different cultural backgrounds, which has led to changes within the system to accommodate the patient base. Unfortunately, not all changes have been able to effectively reach any and all persons from every background. We still see language and cultural barriers that have direct correlation to the inability to seek healthcare and or the ability to change cultural perspectives to ensure healthy lifestyles. Within this paper, the health of American Indian and Alaskan Native populations will be discussed along with the barriers to care and the

The societal factors that may have contributed to the health of Native Americans today are the discrimination, isolation, and poor quality of life that they experienced not only in the past but still experience today. Although we might not hear about the discrimination or poor living conditions Native Americans experience in the news, it doesn't mean that it doesn’t exist. Native Americans experience discrimination everyday where even something as simple as getting or maintaining a job can be difficult. Employers seem to only want to hire White/Caucasian applicants and only hire Native Americans when they're the only option. In today’s poor economy where it’s hard in general to get a job, it seems Native Americans have one more thing stacked

Did you know heart disease is the leading cause of American Indian deaths?4 Heart diseases is the most common disease in the United States of America and they can be cured from proper care. There is a statistic stating that 36% of American Indians who have heart diseases are 15% more likely to die before the age of 65 compared to Caucasians.4 Recently, in the Statistical Fact Sheet 2015 Update it states, “Among American-Indian men ages 45–74, the incidence of CVD ranges from 20 to 28 per 1,000 population. Among women, it ranges from 9 to 15 per 1,000”. As it can be seen that there are a lot of people who are dying from cardiovascular diseases in both male and female.7 American Indian nations have always showed the most mortalities because of heart diseases.

Since the entry of Europeans, Native American individuals experienced an awesome misfortune in general the presentation of illnesses that was extended from Europe. They had never been presented to measles or little pox. The effect of these infections crushed tribes, wiping some out totally. Amid the exchange procedure, Europeans acted vindictively by exchanging covers that had been contaminated with little pox to clueless Indians. Researcher, Ann Ramenofsky noticed that, illness contact in the Americas has had its social results (Ramenofsky, 242) Similarly, the Pacific Coast individuals were constrained from their hereditary grounds to a reservation by the administration, after their tribe was essentially diminished from plagues. (Ruby, 185)

Patients with CHD have many risk factors that are unpredictable and unexpected. This illness can bring on tremendous stress that can bring out the worse in the disease. “Patients have a set of norms and values—expressed or unexpressed—that are individually determined by their culture, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, age, and life experiences”(Falvo, Pg 83). The patient needs more then medical therapy. According to James Blumenthal, PhD, “Psychosocially treated patients showed greater clinical improvement not only in psychological distress, but also in lower blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol levels. More importantly, Linden et al. also concluded that patients who received psychosocial interventions were over 40% less likely to die and 65% less likely to have a recurrent coronary event than controls over a two year follow-up period” (Blumenthal, Pg.1). Guiding this type of patient to the right health care professional and reinforcing the right education this patient can have live optimal life.

Interpersonal skills are important communication strategies for medical practitioners, predominantly to perform accurate assessments and provide quality treatment for patients. Such as the ability to use emotions to better communicate with others, or the ability to empathise with a patient to help establish engagement and feelings of empowerment, both fundamental attributes to effective practice (Sanson-Fisher & Maguire, 1980). Similarly the ability to listen effectively is also fundamental to practice, as it allows the practitioner to ‘get the full picture’ (Eunson 2012). Without interpersonal skills, practitioners such as radiographers are less likely to establish the trust needed to provide quality outcomes (Halpern, 2003). This