Poverty: A clinical instrument for family physicians

Abstract

The primary driver of health outcomes is not medical professionals and the treatment they provide, but rather the socioeconomic environments enveloping individuals from the time they are born until their last breath. Social determinants of health (SDOH), which are factors such as income, education, ethnicity, disability, and access to healthcare, create disparities in morbidities and mortalities across a social gradient. Poverty constitutes one of the most well-studied and well-acknowledged SDOH, with a wide-ranging and treacherous impact on one’s health and well-being. A new poverty tool, created by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Centre for Effective Practice, enables front-line clinicians to tackle the social challenges associated with a low socioeconomic status. Consideration of socioeconomic conditions in a clinical practice setting can improve health outcomes by optimizing clinical management decisions and reduce the burden on our healthcare system.