142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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308349
Investigatory Research on the Distribution and Accessibility of Physicians with Environmental Expertise in the Gulf of Mexico

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Kaitlyn Meirs , University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, NJ
Marilyn Howarth, MD , Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Disparate access to health care has been well documented, however, little is known about access to providers trained in assessment of environmental exposure and related care. Industries depend on occupational clinics that employ physicians with environmental expertise to provide exposure care to industry employees. Physicians employed in this setting are generally unavailable to see patients other than those employed by contracted companies due to potential conflict of interest. Our project evolved from concerns related to a lack of access to physicians with environmental expertise in the Gulf of Mexico and is supported through the Community Outreach and Engagement Core (COEC) of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) supported by NIEHS (P30ES013508).

The Gulf of Mexico has experienced repeated environmental exposures that may affect the overall health of the population. The exploration is aimed at examining availability of physicians with exposure expertise, suggesting proximity does not imply availability of services, especially in environmental justice communities. We are documenting the distribution and accessibility of (1)Occupational and Environmental board certified physicians, (2)Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics and (3)other physicians with environmental training in relation to the distribution of the population and the index of social vulnerability to environmental hazards (SoVI) in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. We are using the National Provider Identifier (NPI) database to determine specialty and the practices’ website to determine availability of services. The physicians’ locations, the population distribution, and the SoVI will be mapped using ArcGis and the results of the exploration will identify underserved communities of environmentally exposed individuals without effective access to physicians trained in environmental exposure, assessment and care.

There are 108 physicians with environmental exposure expertise distributed variably across the three states leaving large expanses of territory and the people who live there completely devoid of environmental exposure assessment and medical care.

Learning Areas:

Ethics, professional and legal requirements
Provision of health care to the public

Learning Objectives:
Describe the availability and accessibility of physicians with environmental expertise in the Gulf of Mexico.

Keyword(s): Environmental Health, Underserved Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract Author on the content I am responsible for because I have completed the research involved in the exploration. I have been the Coordinator for the Community Outreach and Engagement Core where I have extensive experience in analyzing Community Access to Services.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3084.0: Student Acheivement Poster Award