Medical Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

A free public service for a better community

Jul 14, 2023

Happy Friday Healthcare Advocates

I would like to encourage comments and suggestions from you if you have time. If there is a special topic you’d like to see please let me know. Please use the comment button below.

Good News

FDA approves over the counter progestin based contraceptives. Should be in stores early in 2024. No prescription needed. It will be in groceries, [pharmacies, convenience stores etc. Here is a news story on it.

Bad News and Action

The House of Representatives, populated by the Republican Taliban and Taliban wanabees (Democrats who vote to restrict women’s rights) have voted to include amendment 5 to the defense bill that disallows abortion care travel expense for women stationed in a state that restricts abortion. News story here. You can find out how your representative voted at congress.gov. Type their name in the search bar. Then click representative next to their name, then click recent votes see how they voted on HR 2670. If they voted for it, I would recommend calling their office and letting them know how you feel about it. I did.

DEI - We aren’t there yet

There is a lot of discussion about diversity, equity and inclusion where I live. We have a very diverse population. There are many among us who would like to limit the discussion about diversity, especially in schools.

I grew up when there was segregation. My high school class was the first year of student busing to support integration in Chicago. Of course racial discrimination was only one factor. There was all sorts of bigotry then. What we learned by having a diverse population in school was that we were all pretty much the same. It was an important lesson. Hold that thought.

The problem I see is that bigoted behavior is still present and has not disappeared. Here is how I know.

Women of color and indigenous women do far worse than white women with respect to health care. In the last week we have written about how black women receive lesser quality healthcare irrespective of income level or education and have the highest maternal mortality rate, 2.5 times that of white women.

One of the studies I presented found that half of white medical trainees believe such myths as black people have thicker skin or less sensitive nerve endings than white people and so with respect to pain management, receive lesser care. Link to review.

There is a proven technique for fixing this. It is train people to be inclusive and sensitive to the issue. Here is the president of the American Medical Association on the subject just 3 weeks ago.

“Efforts to do away with affirmative action undermine decades of progress in creating a diverse physician workforce and will reverse gains made in the battle against health disparities,” said AMA President-elect Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, ahead of his inauguration as president tonight at the 2023 AMA Annual Meeting in Chicago.

The medical community recognizes the need for DEI this and has found that it even improves patient outcomes.

We need to continue to be inclusive and sensitive if we really want to be diverse. Otherwise we will revert and truthfully, we will all be worse off then.