black…MYstory

Though this is a very small study, it may shed some light on why the state of black health care is in such dire condition.

A recent study of 25 African-American doctors, conducted by Yale University, concludes that the discrimination experienced by black doctors has left them soured on the profession and causes many to leave the field.

Although race allowed them to connect better with some colleagues, patients and staff, the doctors said they were left out of crucial information and social networks that could lead to promotion.

“I do not see us in those leadership pipelines,” one doctor told the researchers. “We’re not in the corridors of power and it has nothing to do with intellectual capacity or ambition.”

“Increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the physician workforce is a national priority and has been offered as one solution to addressing health inequities,” says researcher Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, who authored the study. “But any efforts to increase numbers also needs to address the role of race within health-care institutions to successfully recruit and retain ethnic and racial minority physicians.”

If black doctors are indeed feeling this way, this does not bode well for black patients, who already experience great inequities in medical treatment. I don’t know if health-care institutions are listening but, if they aren’t, we need to be more assertive in making them do so.

Popularity: 17% [?]