BookHarrison J. Alter, Preeti Dalawari, Kelly M. Doran, Maria C. Raven, editors.
Summary: Social Emergency Medicine incorporates consideration of patients social needs and larger structural context into the practice of emergency care and related research. In doing so, the field explores the interplay of social forces and the emergency care system as they influence the well-being of individual patients and the broader community. Social Emergency Medicine recognizes that in many cases typical fixes such as prescriptions and follow-up visits are not enough; the need for housing, a safe neighborhood in which to exercise or socialize, or access to healthy food must be identified and addressed before patients health can be restored. While interest in the subject is growing rapidly, the field of Social Emergency Medicine to date has lacked a foundational text a gap this book seeks to fill. This book includes foundational chapters on the salience of racism, gender and gender identity, immigration, language and literacy, and neighborhood to emergency care. It provides readers with knowledge and resources to assess and assist emergency department patients administrators, and other professionals who recognize that high-quality emergency care extends beyond the ambulance bay.
Contents:
1. History of Social Emergency Medicine
2. Public Health, Population Health, and Health Disparities
3. Race and Racism
4. Gender and Sexual Identity
5. Immigration
6. Language and Literacy
7. Access to Care
8. Frequent Emergency Department Use: A Social Emergency Medicine Perspective
9. Substance Use: A Social Emergency Medicine Perspective
10. Education and Employment
11. Financial Insecurity
12. Food Insecurity
13. Homelessness
14. Housing Instability and Quality
15. Transportation
16. Legal Needs
17. Neighborhoods and the Built Environment
18. Violence
19. Firearm Injury
20. Incarceration
21. Human Trafficking.