Racial bias and care disparities are some of the largest crises facing the health care landscape, impacting the quality of life and care for innumerable patients. Understanding these inequities and learning how to address them can be a challenge—one that the session coordinators of “A Framework for Understanding Health Inequities” seek to alleviate.
Coordinated by Yolanda Bryce, MD, and Janice Newsome, MD, FSIR, and Vishal Kumar, MD, FSIR, the session will focus on disrupting racism and racial bias, while increasing awareness of systemic inequities through the lens of race, sex and gender.
“We want what's best for our patients,” said Drs. Bryce and Newsome. “We want them to reach their full potential for best care and holistic health. But so much stands between the doctor, the patient and the patient's possibility to reach that potential—food deserts, environmental and structural racism, lack of access, a history that has created mistrust, disparities in comorbidities and tumor biology, differences in disease presentation, and unconscious bias to name a few.”
The session will feature three presentations and a final panel discussion. In the first presentation, “A Historical Framework for Anti-Blackness in America,” Dr. Kumar will discuss the evolution of systemic racism and how we can trace the origin of current health disparities to historical inequities.
In “Understanding System, Interpersonal and Individual Racism,” Dr. Bryce will discuss the theoretical framework for racism put forth by Camara P. Jones, MD, MPH, PhD. Dr. Jones’s framework looks at how to understand racism on an institutional, interpersonal and internal level. The framework helps initiate conversations and present hypothetical situations to aid in understanding.
In the final presentation, John R. Dryden, MD, will speak on “The Language of Bias in Medicine,” which will explore the impact of how we speak, describe and communicate about health and race.
"Language is a reflection of history, culture and interconnection,” said Dr. Dryden. “The denotations and connotations of our words can drastically alter a patient’s experience and our ability to provide care."
The session will end with “Racism in Practice,” a panel discussion that will examine common disparities and biases that IRs may regularly encounter.
“We would hope that in 2022 there exists a level playing field between ourselves and all our colleagues in an attempt to reach our academic and societal goals—but again, lack of access, unconscious bias, environmental and structural racism, and differences in perception and perspective continue a stark divide,” said Drs. Bryce and Newsome. “It’s 2022. IRs want to do better, and we can do better. So where on the journey to doing better are we, and what is actually possible? That’s what we plan to talk about.”
