XU and SUNO answer the clarion call for healthcare diversity
25th September 2023 · 0 Comments
Recent announcements of Xavier University of Louisiana’s (XULA) pending medical school and Southern University at New Orleans’ new School of Nursing will change the face of healthcare in New Orleans and lead to better health outcomes and longevity for Black residents.
Many studies point to racially discriminatory treatment of Blacks in the U.S. healthcare system.
Stacy went to the emergency room with a 104-degree fever. The hospital sent this 20-something, young Black woman home and told her to take over-the-counter fever reduction medicine. Four days later, unable to breathe and nearly dead, she went into the hospital with a life-threatening case of COVID.
John, a Black senior citizen, visited an ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) specialist for a hearing problem. Tubes implanted by a white doctor left John with a hole in his eardrum that required an operation. John paid $400 for a hearing aid and is still waiting, a year later, to have surgery.
It’s criminal for people who take an oath to “first do no harm” to allow patients to suffer needlessly, consciously or unconsciously, through implicit racial bias. Minority populations experience higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, and heart disease than their white counterparts. The life expectancy among Blacks/African Americans is 71.6, four years lower than that of white Americans.
Diet, poverty, housing, and lack of access to healthcare and transportation may prevent some Blacks from getting optimal healthcare, but racial bias among healthcare professionals is also a factor.
A survey conducted by the Urban Institute found that more than 10 percent of Black adults and an even higher percentage of Black women living in low-income households reported being discriminated against or judged by a healthcare professional.
All humans are susceptible to negative stereotypes about Black people – even some Black people themselves – but grown medical professionals’ higher education has not kept them from devaluing and disrespecting Blacks.
Moreover, failure to tackle health inequities stemming from discrimination or unfair treatment in healthcare settings can severely affect an individual’s health and the quality of care they receive.
A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) video shows that centuries of racism have prevented some minority groups from achieving optimal health. A CDC survey of Blacks found a majority (56%) have had at least one of several negative experiences, including speaking up to get the proper care and being treated with less respect than other patients.
Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, chair of the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and president emeritus of Morehouse School of Medicine, examined the discriminatory treatment of Black patients and the lack of Black health professionals in a 2004 study.
“Missing Persons: Minorities In The Health Professions – A Report Of The Sullivan Commission On Diversity In The Healthcare Workforce” found few minorities among the nation’s physicians, dentists and nurses. Historically, medicine, dentistry and nursing schools were among the last to integrate their classrooms.
The report concluded that diversity in the health professions would benefit not only minorities but all Americans.
Twenty years ago, Dr. Sullivan said the culture of medical schools must change to increase diversity in healthcare. He recommended Xavier University’s Office of Premedical Programs for aspiring medical professionals. XULA graduates a majority of African-American pre-med students in the U.S. The problem still needs to be solved.
The Washington Post warned that racism in care leads to health disparities in 2020. The Post quoted the New England Journal of Medicine: “Slavery has produced a legacy of racism, injustice, and brutality that runs from 1619 to the present, that infects medicine as it does all social institutions.”
In 2022, The Washington Post wrote about the need for Black health professionals: “The Institute of Medicine recommends increasing the number of minority health professionals as a critical strategy to eliminate health disparities.”
One culprit is primary medical schools, which still need to diversify faculties or student admissions.
The Urban Institute’s focus group of Black medical school students shared painful experiences that made them feel unsupported and unwelcome, including hostility, discriminatory statements from faculty and peers, and discouragement from pursuing their career tracks.
Louisiana and New Orleans are Black medical professional deserts. Blacks are 31 percent of the population in Louisiana but only eight percent of practicing physicians.
When Xavier University’s Medical College opens in 2025, it will be the second medical school in New Orleans to admit Black students. Its forerunner, New Orleans University Medical College (renamed Flint College operated from 1881 through 1911.
XULA is partnering with Ochsner Medical Center to establish a joint College of Medicine.
Xavier University’s College of Medicine and Southern University’s School of Nursing (whose motto is ‘Caring is the Essence of Nursing”) may add more Black medical professionals in New Orleans if salaries and benefits are competitive, fair, and equal and hospitals welcome them.
This article originally published in the September 25, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
