Just a little (link) love: Paper eating puppy Edition
September 17, 2015
CAREER + MONEY THINGS
Most of my personal spending money this year is going to help people who really need it. It was Nepal first, and then Syria. Pat Rothfuss described very much how I feel about the refugee crisis.
Sometimes reading the comments is good. Fellow tweeter @cginpvd had this remarkably sensible comment on this NYTimes article. RIGHT ON, I say. I have been ignored by 85% of my white male American doctors over most of my years of pain, they’ve all told me it was just in my head. Believe me, if I could just think up a new reality, pain wouldn’t be part of it. Socioeconomic and racial knowledge and background will always have some influence on what we do, medical doctors are not exempt from that fact, so it will affect our health care:
There are lot of comments here about how “race shouldn’t matter.” A large body of research illustrates that we really need to get off this fantasy island. Race and ethnicity (and sexuality) matters to doctors and minority patients. It affects the way they interact, how they are clinically evaluated, and their adherence to treatment regimens.
A black doctor is more likely to be aware of the social value of food in the patient’s community and make suggestions that are more likely to be followed. If a Latino patient feels dismissed by a white doctor because they don’t speak English or have a thick accent, they aren’t going back, no matter how “good” the doctor is. And if we expand this discussion into sexuality, one of the most reported reasons that lesbian/bi women have significantly higher rates of gynecological cancers is avoidance of doctors due to unawareness or outright hostility.
Outcomes are better when patients believe they are viewed as competent, valuable, and understood. Race and ethnicity are still important in medicine because doctors and patients are people who bring their societal baggage into the exam room with them. The goal is not to blindly increase the number of underrepresented minority students in medical school without consideration of academics, but to make sure the brightest URM students have the skills to succeed. If we are to improve the health of this country, we have to face reality and make sure there are more doctors who look like the USA.
Manager refuses service to veteran, is informed of ADA, says “I don’t care.”
INTERESTING THINGS
Post 9/11, The way we are now, thanks to Kristin M
I was there, online, when Stepto’s family and friends shared that he was in a mysterious coma, and you could hear the sigh of relief when he came back from it.
American Air took the wrong plane to Hawaii. Ooops..?
“I was picked on in high school” is a terrible excuse for poor adult behavior. Excellent points by Seanan McGuire.
