{"id":43129,"date":"2018-09-28T16:34:07","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T15:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=43129"},"modified":"2019-01-17T13:10:03","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T12:10:03","slug":"abraar-karan-why-we-need-more-diversity-in-our-doctors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2018\/09\/28\/abraar-karan-why-we-need-more-diversity-in-our-doctors\/","title":{"rendered":"Abraar Karan: Why we need more diversity in our doctors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"standfirst\">The movement to change what a doctor looks like is a daily, incremental effort<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-37912\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2016\/12\/abraar.jpg\" alt=\"abraar\" width=\"124\" height=\"165\" \/><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">During my internship year of residency, I took care of an older African American woman, Mrs L*, whose \u00a0x-rays were clinically ambiguous, prompting us to consider a CT scan. \u201cMrs L\u2014we may need to do some more imaging if you do not improve,\u201d I informed her as I finished my physical exam. To this, she looked bewildered, almost upset. \u201cWhy do you doctors do so many tests on me? I don\u2019t want you doing all these tests.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I discuss diagnostic and treatment decisions with patients every single day, and this is not the first time the recommendations I\u2019ve given have been questioned. Navigating these conversations, and understanding a patient\u2019s concerns, often means juggling many different considerations. But reading a <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nber.org\/papers\/w24787\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">new paper in the National Bureau of Economic Research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has made me wonder if I have missed a critical aspect of caring for patients of colour, specifically.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This new study explored the relationship between a patient\u2019s race, their physician\u2019s race, and their healthcare decision making. The study found that black male patients (the study was only conducted with men) were significantly more likely to undergo preventative screening tests, such as diabetes and cholesterol measurements, and agree to the flu shot if they were offered by black male physicians rather than white male physicians. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The effects were more pronounced among those patients who mistrusted\u00a0or had minimal prior interaction with the health system. Furthermore, they found that patients were more likely to speak about their health issues with black doctors, and those doctors were more likely to write additional notes about the patients. The authors calculate that an increase in the diversity of the medical workforce could lead to a\u00a019% reduction in the black-white gap in male cardiovascular mortality\u00a0and an 8% reduction in the black-white\u00a0gap in\u00a0male life expectancy. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">So what do we make of these findings? Should black patients be allowed to request black physicians? Some may point out that white patients requesting white physicians would not sit well in today\u2019s social context. Yet I\u2019d argue that increasing diversity in medicine is not only critical for equity (having more physicians of colour is in itself necessary regardless of additional benefits to patients), but that the absence of diversity may be actively harming patients. We know that African American patients are far <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/pundits-blog\/healthcare\/347780-black-americans-dont-have-trust-in-our-healthcare-system\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">less likely to trust their healthcare providers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and for good reason. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Historically, medical racism has been one of our profession\u2019s most deplorable legacies: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/2207450?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">medical experimentation on black slaves<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/msnbc\/day-17-mississippi-appendectomies\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMississippi appendectomies,\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0the infamous <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/tuskegee\/timeline.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tuskegee Study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and the recent worrying finding that many white medical students and residents falsely believe that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4843483\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">black patients have a higher tolerance to pain<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This is not to mention the continued <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahrq.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/wysiwyg\/research\/findings\/nhqrdr\/nhqrdr10\/minority.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">modern day differences black and white patients experience in standards of care<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, with a recent study showing that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahajournals.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1161\/JAHA.118.010203\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">black patients do not receive standard of care treatments for heart attacks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as often as white patients do<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Accordingly, African American and Latino patients who perceived racism in the healthcare system are\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1466852\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">significantly more likely to prefer physicians of their own race<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have to wonder if Mrs L would have felt more comfortable with my suggestion of further tests if I was female, or black? Importantly, as physicians, are we asking ourselves these questions often enough? As much as we have a sense of if a patient is clinically \u201csick\u201d or \u201cnot sick,\u201d do we also have a sense of how racial, social, and political factors influence our relationships with patients? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recently, the Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital where I work made the historic decision <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beckershospitalreview.com\/hospital-physician-relationships\/brigham-and-women-s-takes-down-31-portraits-of-white-male-leaders-in-diversity-effort.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to remove the portraits of previous department chairs from the hospital auditorium<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The portraits were all men and, with the exception of one Asian American, white. A similar decision had been made at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where I completed an MPH the previous year. There, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/news\/features\/ghost-portraits-african-american-native-american-public-health\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">some of the portraits were instead replaced by portraits of important figures in public health<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that were in some way affiliated with the school, including Native American, African American, and other minority group leaders. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Exterior changes such as these are important because they symbolise a greater consciousness of inequity, and create physical space for celebrating diversity. But racism and sexism exist more subtly today than they did in the past; they now often manifest in the form of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jama\/article-abstract\/2552202\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">micro-aggressions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and in the decisions that happen behind closed doors, many of which are still made by white males. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ultimately, we need more minority physicians\u2014period. We know that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/books\/NBK223632\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">minority physicians are more likely to return to work in their communities<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamainternalmedicine\/fullarticle\/1792913\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">more likely to treat underserved populations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in general. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond this, empowering minority groups to become doctors is a matter of equity: everyone deserves an opportunity to succeed. This includes not only racial minorities, but also the economically disenfranchised of all races. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">While cultural competency training for all physicians is important, there is currently <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/24793445\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">poor evidence to suggest improved patient outcomes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> with existing training programmes\u2014meaning we have much work to do on this front as well. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The movement to change what a \u201cdoctor\u201d looks like today is a daily, incremental effort, requiring mentorship and outreach to low income and minority students. Strategies to reduce medical debt and increase financial aid are also especially important in this endeavour. (Take NYU\u2019s recent announcement that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/08\/16\/nyregion\/nyu-free-tuition-medical-school.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">tuition would be free for all its medical students<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014although many have pointed out that the funds would have been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/view\/articles\/2018-08-28\/nyu-s-free-medical-school-plan-is-no-cure-all\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">better distributed to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">All patients should feel safe when they see their doctors. For patients of colour, many of whom are still experiencing the echoes of medicine\u2019s racist legacy, the medical system owes them much. One of these debts is a future in which the medical workforce looks less like me, and more like Mrs L.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>*This patient&#8217;s initials have been changed.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Abraar Karan<\/strong> is\u00a0a medical resident at the Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital. Twitter\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/abraarkaran\"><em>@AbraarKaran<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Competing interests<\/strong>: None declared.<\/p>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views and opinions of Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The movement to change what a doctor looks like is a daily, incremental effort [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2018\/09\/28\/abraar-karan-why-we-need-more-diversity-in-our-doctors\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18906,1357],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abraar-karan","category-us-health-care"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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