Continuity of care for migrant farm workers utilizing computer disks

Abstract

Not much has changed for the migrant farmworker in the last thirty years. In one of the wealthiest countries on earth, migrant farmworker health status remains comparable to that found in Third World countries because of poor sanitation, poor nutrition and exposure. Current estimates show that migrant clinics are serving less than 20% of this population, leaving about 2,000,000 farmworkers without medical care. The barriers to health care for this population are numerous. This study will focus on the barrier to care resulting from lack of continuity in care due to poor inter-clinic communication. In this study it has been shown that computer disks and a standard word-processing program can be used to create a portable medical health history for the migrant to improve inter-clinic communication. In the process of carrying out this study, it was also shown how other barriers to care for this vulnerable population might be removed as well.