2023 1 posts Re Topic 3 DQ 1 Immigrants are one of the largest vulnerable populations in the United States There

1 postsRe: Topic 3 DQ 1

Immigrants are one of the largest vulnerable populations in the United States. There are approximately 44.5 million immigrants in the US according to research done in 2017. The US has the largest number of immigrants as compared to other countries, Germany has the second highest number of immigrants calculating only 12 million followed by Russia with 11.6 million. When looking at the US compared to other countries, the US has almost 4 times the number of immigrants as the other leading countries. With this high number of immigrants, they are vulnerable for impaired health and wellbeing for many reasons. “Refugees and immigrants can be defined as vulnerable populations because they are often in an unknown environment with little understanding of the new culture, resources, or language and will likely require a host of support in order to acclimate to their new environments” (Grand Canyon University, 2018).

Public health nurses need to be aware of the people who fall into this category within their community and treat them with the same respect and dignity that they would for people who do not and ensure that they care for their needs. “This includes accounting for language barriers, lack of insurance, and provision of resources such as clothing, food and water, and possibly housing needs” (Grand Canyon University, 2018). To do this we must be knowledgeable of their culture and health beliefs and assist them in finding resources that can improve their health. It can be difficult for this population to advocate for themselves because of the lack of knowledge and understanding of how our health system is constructed and ran. Language can be on of the biggest barriers when assisting immigrants, and we as public health nurses need to be aware of these barriers and try to offer assistance when communicating with them. These can include things such as having an interpreter available to allow for easier communication of their needs. In the hospital we have our interpreter phones that we can use to effectively communicate with our patients, so by having these for the use of public health nurses could better the health of this vulnerable population.