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Breast Cancer Screening There is a need to increase

There is a need to increase the breast cancer screening among low-income and minority groups of women, and to improve the followup of these screening procedures with appropriate treatment.

Studies have demonstrated that low-income and minority women who have been screened and found to have suspicious or abnormal mammograms are most likely not to follow through with diagnostic tests appointments, effectively delaying the diagnosis and treatment of an early stage breast tumor (The Screening, 2003). This is an important finding because at a later stage of diagnosis, morbidity and mortality are higher among low-income, minority women. Non-adherence and less than desired rates of followup after an abnormal screening run as high as 60 percent among these medically underserved women.

Barriers to followup include the health care system, health care providers, and personal and cultural barriers (The Screening, 2003). These women are likely to be uninsured or underinsured, without a regular source of medical care, and they receive only receive fragmented screening, diagnostic and treatment services, if any. The types of health care systems these women consult do not have adequate tracking or followup mechanisms and this leads to a break down in provider-patient communications, and language and cultural barriers often mean these women never receive adequate advice and counseling about the results of their mammograms.

To maximize the benefits of mammography screening, the patients need to receive a full and understandable explanation of the results and the meaning of an abnormal mammogram; an explanation of the risk that she actually has cancer; an assessment of whether she really believes that the recommended treatment will really help her; and an explanation of the problems, barriers, and costs she may face as a result of any necessary surgery, e.g. a mastectomy (The screenings, 2003). She must understand the psychological co...

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Breast Cancer Screening There is a need to increase. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 06:04, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1705412.html