{"id":1999,"date":"2017-10-02T07:19:18","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T14:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=1999"},"modified":"2017-08-14T08:19:12","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T15:19:12","slug":"screening-for-social-determinants-of-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=1999","title":{"rendered":"Screening for Social Determinants of Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the years, I tried to keep track of the health statistics for the county where I practiced.\u00a0 I knew that 11% of adults smoked, 18% had excessive alcohol consumption and 24% were obese.\u00a0 My medical assistants were pretty good at documenting smoking, alcohol and exercise habits when they roomed my patients. I gave the usual advice and occasionally a smoker would quit, a patient would exercise more and occasionally even a drinker would stop before there was a medical reason to do so. I tended to focus my advice on choices my patients made that affected their health, but in fact, those choices may play a very small role in the health of our communities.<\/p>\n

There were many things I didn\u2019t ask my patients: How far did they go in school? What was it like for them growing up? How hard was it for them to get in to see me that day? Do they have trouble paying for food or handling their house payment? \u00a0What is their neighborhood like? If I had thought to ask those questions, I am not sure I would have known what to do with the answer. \u00a0But, I might have had better understanding of the stresses and challenges my patients face each day.<\/p>\n

Social determinants of health are \u201cthe circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live, work and age, and the systems put in place to deal with illness.\u00a0 These circumstances are in turn shaped by a wider set of forces: economics, social policies and politics.\u201d (WHO)<\/p>\n

There are five main areas of SDOH:<\/p>\n