Patient Perspectives: Understanding healthcare equity as a provider, patient, or person of color

From representation reflected in specialties of medical professionals, to balance within clinical trials, health equity is an ongoing evolution.

Transcript

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We have a ways to go. We've come a long way, but we still have many, many steps that we have to get till we truly

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achieve health equity. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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There was a 2020 study that found that up to 23% of people living with hepatitis C

00:20

were actually Black Americans. However, we know from the clinical trials that that's not who's actually being represented.

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As we move forward, we should then begin to see a change in representation

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in the medical literature now that transparency is going to be more of an expectation. What do you feel like is the biggest bucket?

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That if we, at the end of this call, could actually come up with solutions, what would it target? One of the greatest challenges that I see, especially

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in the field of gastroenterology where only 4% of gastroenterologists are actually Black gastroenterologists, is representation.

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I didn't even realize how rare it was for me to be in the field of gastroenterology until the patients would come in and tell me, you know,

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we have never seen a Black gastroenterologist. Wow. And they would also follow by saying that no one has ever

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explained to them, the way that I'm able to communicate with them, their disease process. Outcomes improve when there is representation

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that we should be reflective of our communities, that and from a cultural standpoint and from a trust standpoint,

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it's important that we have appropriate representation across various specialties in medicine.

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And so that's one of the biggest-- the biggest barriers is really that lack of representation.

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We know with this pandemic, very early on, it was-- it was heavily announced that the risk factors of having

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worse outcomes would be if you have preexisting conditions, if you're older, and if you're a racial minority group.

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And you two ladies check two of those three boxes. How has that made you feel? Did it make you feel isolated?

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Did it make you feel targeted? How's that made you feel in the process of this pandemic? I didn't see other women of color around me

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that were dealing with the same things. The biggest thing is that there shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all in reference to that when it comes

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to diagnosis and treatment. It's very difficult to navigate when you first, have no one that is experiencing what you're experiencing,

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and then secondly, when there's not an understanding just based off of differences. The representation for me took a different turn in the fact

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that I'm young. I was only 18 years old. I was trying to figure out how I was going to go to college and work full-time and be

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able to kind of navigate having a social life. But there was no information out there for that. And now, when I look at my community that, you know,

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I've become a part of, it's gigantic, and there's just a lot more resources now, a lot more representation, and I feel

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like having younger doctors kind of gives them a better perspective of how important it