29: Addressing Institutionalized Racism in Healthcare

Parallax by Ankur Kalra

In the early days of the Black Lives Matter movement, a group of internal medicine residents posed a question: What can we do about racial disparity within our institution? Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Health Equity Committee decided to confront the status quo by asking: How is racism on a structural level present within our walls? Ankur Kalra’s guests Michelle Morse (Founding Co-Director of EqualHealth and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School) and Lauren Eberly (Cardiology Fellow at University of Pennsylvania) are co-authors of a retrospective study that demonstrated what had previously only been observed: That black or brown heart failure patients ended up in general medicine rather than specialised cardiology services. Following publication of the study in November 2019, the Health Equity Committee started to roll out anti-racism trainings and to work on objective admission guidelines to mitigate biased behaviours. Aarti Bhatt (Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Minnesota), member of the Minnesota chapter of Campaign Against Racism, talks about their initiative to support projects that have positive impact on local communities on a global scale. Tune in to hear more about how you can be part of the Campaign Against Racism. Related Content https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.90.8.1212 https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.119.006214 Questions and comments can be sent to “[e-mail]” and may be answered by Ankur in the next episode. Guests Michelle Morse, Aarti Bhatt & Lauren Eberly, hosted by @AnkurKalraMD. Produced by @RadcliffeCARDIO.