Study: White docs misunderstand black patients’ pain
Studying the perceptions of 222 white medical students, University of Virginia researchers have concluded that false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites “continue to shape the way we perceive and treat black people—they are associated with racial disparities in pain assessment and treatment recommendations.”
The findings were published in the March edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Covering the study April 4, Los Angeles Times health and science reporter Melissa Healy points out that previous research has shown that, in a wide range of medical circumstances and across the age spectrum, “black patients are less likely to get pain medications and, when they do, are prescribed less, than are white patients reporting the same conditions and pain levels.”
The experiment was also performed with 106 non-white medical students, but the researchers did not find the same correlations found in the white participants and did not include these findings in the final study.
The authors suggested future work will be needed to determine whether false beliefs persist at similar levels for those at more advanced stages of their career and for both white and non-white medical professionals. A 2008 survey by the Center for Studying Health System Change (which has since merged with the think tank Mathematica Policy Research) showed that, among physicians younger than 40, some 33 percent were part of a racial minority.
For the full take from the Los Angeles Times, click the link below:
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.