Surgical Care Through a Community Free Clinic-Ambulatory Surgical Center Partnership.

Autor:	Park FS; Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, Irvine School of Medicine, University of California, Orange, CA, USA., Pang JC; Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, Irvine School of Medicine, University of California, Orange, CA, USA.; Institute for Global Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA., Yang CD; Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, Irvine School of Medicine, University of California, Orange, CA, USA., Breziner D; Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, Irvine School of Medicine, University of California, Orange, CA, USA., Manzanarez-Felix KO; Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, Irvine School of Medicine, University of California, Orange, CA, USA., Hoyos JP; Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, Irvine School of Medicine, University of California, Orange, CA, USA., Ruiz AM; Department of General Surgery, Huntington Health, Pasadena, CA, USA., Alvarez CA; Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, Irvine School of Medicine, University of California, Orange, CA, USA., Swentek LY; Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, Irvine School of Medicine, University of California, Orange, CA, USA., Chin TL; Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, Irvine School of Medicine, University of California, Orange, CA, USA.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	The American surgeon [Am Surg] 2024 Dec; Vol. 90 (12), pp. 3193-3200. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jul 19.
DOI:	10.1177/00031348241262433
Abstrakt:	Background: Disparities secondary to underinsurance present throughout the surgical care continuum. Community free clinics are uniquely capable to provide health care services to the medically underserved, but surgery often falls outside their scope of care. Methods: Retrospective chart review was conducted on consecutive community free clinic patients receiving free surgical services via referral to a partnering ambulatory surgery center between March 2016 and September 2021. Those with documented contact information were recruited 1-3 years post-procedure for long-term quality-of-life (LTQOL) outcomes assessment via modified Veterans RAND 12-item health survey. Results: Of 142 included patients, 95.7% identified as Hispanic/Latino and 75.6% were uninsured. Twelve patients had cancerous or precancerous lesions detected and/or removed through diagnostic or definitive procedures. 3.5% experienced postoperative complication including bacterial (n = 2) or fungal (n = 1) surgical site infection and wound dehiscence (n = 2). With a 48.9% response rate, no significant differences in sociodemographic or clinical characteristics were found between surveyed vs non-surveyed patients. Of surveyed patients, 59.7% and 52.2% reported pre-/post-operative improvement in physical health and emotional health, respectively. Discussion: Free diagnostic screening procedures provided timely diagnoses while free definitive surgeries safely and positively impacted long-term patient-reported physical health. Longitudinal, multidisciplinary follow-up and social support may be warranted to concurrently improve emotional and mental health in similarly underinsured populations. Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Theresa L. Chin reports her current position as an unpaid volunteer physician member of the Lestonnac Free Clinic Board of Directors.
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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