neighboorhood

In Your Patient’s Neighborhood

by

Where you live is a significant social determinant of health that impacts health and emergency care. In this episode, Dr. Kim Bambach (Assistant Professor of EM) interviews Dr. Amogh Krishnagiri (PGY-3 Chief Resident) about how built spaces and the connections they create ultimately influence health. From transportation access and food availability to education, housing stability, and local resources, a patient’s built environment directly affects their ability to follow up, fill prescriptions, and heal.

Key Learning Points:

  1. A neighborhood is more than a built location
    • It reflects the social connections, infrastructure, and resources that shape health outcomes.
  2. Social determinants of health impact emergency care
    • Transportation, food access, housing stability, income, and education all directly affect whether patients can follow through on ED discharge plans.
  3. Consider what’s in your patient’s neighborhood
    • Not all neighborhoods offer equal access to pharmacies, clinics, grocery stores, or safe transit. Expecting identical follow-up success across different environments is unrealistic.
  4. Transportation is often overlooked
    • If patients cannot physically get to appointments, pharmacies, or community resources, the plan fails.
  5. Take the time to make a safe discharge
    • Safe discharge planning requires feasibility, not just medical accuracy. A brief conversation about barriers can prevent bounce backs and unnecessary admissions.
  6. Connect to your community resources
    • Emergency physicians are uniquely positioned to connect patients to community resources.
    • Get to know the resources in your community and your ED social worker.

Bottom Line:
Understanding your patient’s neighborhood — especially their access to transportation and community resources — is essential to creating discharge plans that are safe, realistic, and truly effective.

Resources:

  1. Close.City
  2. Columbus Street Card
  3. Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging
  4. Columbus Metropolitan Library
  5. Ohio Domestic Violence Network
  6. Columbus Food Pantries

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