We must all do our part to dismantle racist systems.
Here are few ways that you can combat racial bias in healthcare:
Healthcare providers, this may sound simple but understanding the cultures that your patients come from will help tremendously. Also, please avoid stereotyping patients and view them as individuals. If you can understand the magnitude of your unconscious bias, you are halfway on your way.
When hiring, diversity and inclusion matters. Recruit and retain medical students and doctors who reflect the diversity of the patients. Physicians must be trained to acknowledge and control unconscious biased attitudes and behaviors as well as fairly promote physicians of color.
Everyone, let’s hold ourselves and our colleagues accountable when we see racial bias at work. It will take courage but calling out these behaviors is truly the only way that we can break the cycle.
Racial bias in health care is not a problem that we, the recipients of racist discrimination, created, but we can all choose to be a part of the solution to ensure biases are removed.
Patients can advocate for themselves by communicating openly with their clinicians and ensuring that key information is included in their medical records so that their doctors can recommend appropriate care based on those facts.
Resources: American Journal of Public Health, National Library of Medicine
This page contains general medical information. Medical knowledge and practice can change rapidly. Therefore, this page should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice.
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