Introduction
There is no doubt that people in many countries of the modern world try to do their best in order to create appropriate conditions for migrant workers and provide them with everything to have a high quality of life. Representatives of countries tend to have different attitudes to such type of workforce but they usually support migrant workers. Nevertheless, it would be unfair to deny the fact that there are certain problems that these people face. Worse still, many of the challenges are connected to the lack of access to health services. Taking this into consideration, it is necessary to develop the solutions that could help to improve the situation.
Analysis
Being a community health nurse, I have to work with migrant workers living in the United States. Although a lot of measures have been taken by the government in order to help these people to become a part of our community, they still face some problems connected to healthcare. To begin with, the barriers that exist in this situation may be divided into formal and informal. The former are usually related to the healthcare system itself and the ways of how people are supposed to use healthcare services. For instance, if there are no free healthcare services, migrant workers may get into a difficult situation because of their pay grade level that is usually quite low. Furthermore, the situation with access to health services for migrants may be different in many countries.
In the United States, non-citizens may receive other healthcare services besides urgent treatment. As for those barriers that can be called informal, they are often connected to difficulties in communication between migrants who may speak the official language very badly and healthcare specialists who would like to help them. What is more, factors that prevent migrant workers from getting timely medical assistance may sometimes be connected to their psychological constitutions or cultural assumptions (Clough, Lee, & Chae, 2013). For instance, some migrant workers have grown up in cultures where self-support was regarded as a primary value. Due to that, they may have difficulties when there is a need to ask for help, especially being in another country. Also, it is important to consider the place where migrant workers live. For instance, if we speak about rural areas, the situation is much worse. Even the citizens of the United States living in such areas have less access to healthcare services.
Considering the importance of human rights of any people living in the United States, it may be necessary to develop a set of measures that would allow us to minimize or even eliminate the barriers. To begin with, I believe that it is very important to invite more interpreters to work in areas where a lot of migrant workers live. Due to that, these people will not have problems related to the misunderstanding between them and local health specialists. Furthermore, it may be necessary to encourage the representatives of their native countries in the United States to help them. Also, it is important to pay attention to migrants’ education level. Thus, it is essential to teach them both to speak English and recognize the symptoms of major illnesses. According to the latest studies, it is also possible to use social networks in order to promote education among migrants (Goodall, Newman, & Ward, 2014). These measures together with the efforts of the government of the United States may help to ameliorate the situation.
Conclusion
In the end, it is important to remember that the challenges of migrant workers connected to healthcare services should be addressed with the help of the concerted efforts of many agencies. Nevertheless, some measures such as educating migrant workers can be supported even by ordinary healthcare workers.
References
Clough, J., Lee, S., & Chae, D. H. (2013). Barriers to health care among Asian immigrants in the United States: A traditional review. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 24(1), 384-403.
Goodall, K. T., Newman, L. A., & Ward, P. R. (2014). Improving access to health information for older migrants by using grounded theory and social network analysis to understand their information behaviour and digital technology use. European Journal of Cancer Care, 23(6), 728-738.