Street Medicine: Barrier Considerations for Healthcare Providers in the U.S.
Tito, Emmanuel
Why this matters
A field growing this quickly outpaces the standards meant to govern it. An overview describes street medicine as it has developed over the past decade and argues for standardizing care delivered outside traditional facilities.
Abstract
In the last decade, a movement known as "street medicine" has emerged. It is a relatively new medical field in which healthcare providers deliver medical care to homeless populations outside of traditional healthcare facilities, on the streets, and in various settings where unsheltered people live. Physicians essentially visit people living in camps, along riverbanks, in alleys, and abandoned buildings to provide medical care. During the pandemic, street medicine in the U.S. was often the first line of defense for people living on the streets. As the practice of street medicine continues to grow and expand across the country, there is an increasing demand to standardize patient care delivered outside traditional healthcare facilities.