A recent study found that almost half of the people who work in healthcare, like doctors and nurses, have seen patients being treated unfairly because of their race or the language they speak. This is a big problem in healthcare, and it happens more often to patients who are people of color or who don’t speak English well.
The study, which was done by two groups called the Commonwealth Fund and the African American Research Collaborative (AARC), asked healthcare workers about their experiences. They found that 47 percent of them had seen patients being treated unfairly at the places where they work. More than half of the people in the study think that unfair treatment and racism against patients is a major problem or crisis in healthcare.
Henry Fernandez, the person in charge of AARC and the main author of the report, said, “The study shows us the unfair treatment and racism that healthcare workers see and how it can lead to worse health for patients in many communities.”Other studies have also shown that racism is common in healthcare. Black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), and Asian patients are more likely to say they have been treated unfairly compared to White patients.
The results of this study show that healthcare organizations need to create better ways for doctors, nurses, and patients to report when they see or experience unfair treatment. Fixing this problem is important for making sure all patients are treated fairly and have the best chance at being healthy, especially those from communities that are often left out or treated poorly.
See “Half of Healthcare Staff Report Racism & Discrimination Against Patients” by Sara Heath on the Patient Engagement HIT website (February 16, 2024)
