When it comes to the care of marginalized populations, I think about individual, environmental, and societal factors that could influence the health or healthcare of these populations. I think the main factor that ties in to all of the factors listed above is the socioeconomic status of the individuals. I think that people who have a lower socioeconomic status may have less access to the healthcare that they need. They may not have the financial resources they need to receive the adequate care they need. However, I think that historically this could have been due to discrimination, and it probably still is. I think this could be due to certain views of healthcare providers that are caring for the individuals, and again due to socioeconomic factors.

Some strategies that could resolve health and healthcare disparities and that could improve the health of vulnerable and marginalized populations would be to have more clinics, more access to health insurance, more access to resources that could help individuals in these situations, and trainings for healthcare providers about groups of marginalized people to help them better understand what these groups are going through. I think all of these strategies combined would be a good start to helping vulnerable and marginalized populations get the healthcare they need.  

I will apply what I learned to enhance the care of diverse populations by not discriminating a patient, giving every patient the best care I possibly can, helping to educate people on the care these populations need and don’t receive, by standing up for these populations, and by helping find ways to get these groups more access to the healthcare they need. I will also be able to be more aware of how marginalized populations are treated or not treated and will be able to help them if they are in my care.