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Immigration as a Social and Structural Determinant of Health

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Social Emergency Medicine

Abstract

This chapter describes how immigration status affects patients and influences care in the emergency department (ED). There are 11.3 million undocumented immigrants within the US, and many more with limited legal status, who are vulnerable to political, legal, and structural factors predisposing them to poor health outcomes. Many of these factors are beyond the control of the emergency provider, but there are ways to mitigate the structural vulnerability of this population by optimizing their care in the ED. Important steps include educating providers regarding health risks, care gaps, and patient experience; creating a system of immigration-informed care that employs sensitive and stabilizing care while in the ED; and integration of the clinical encounter with community resources (legal, case management, accompaniment) to support patients outside the ED.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles County + University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Todd Schneberk

  2. Department of Emergency Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA

    Shamsher Samra

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  1. Todd Schneberk
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  2. Shamsher Samra
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Highland Hospital, Alameda Health System, Oakland, CA, USA

    Harrison J. Alter

  2. Division of Emergency Medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA

    Preeti Dalawari

  3. Departments of Emergency Medicine and Population Health, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Kelly M. Doran

  4. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Maria C. Raven

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Schneberk, T., Samra, S. (2021). Immigration as a Social and Structural Determinant of Health. In: Alter, H.J., Dalawari, P., Doran, K.M., Raven, M.C. (eds) Social Emergency Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65672-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65672-0_3

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