Addressing Systemic Racism in Healthcare
This is an excerpt I wrote for the Rho Chi Post titled “Pharmacists For Black Lives”. I was tasked with addressing my perspective on racism.
1) What do you want those pursuing careers in healthcare to keep at the forefront of their minds when treating non-white patients?
“For anyone that is pursuing a career in healthcare one of the greatest skills that I think is not talked about enough is having the ability to be self-aware. Having the self-awareness to understand that your life, knowledge, motivations, and desires are very different than most people you come in contact with. With this in mind in terms of treating non-white patients, the mindset that allows me to see if I am doing what I am supposed to be doing is to remember why I chose to go into pharmacy in the first place. One of the main reasons that I got into pharmacy is because I was seeing the effect that it had on the lives of my parents as well as many different people in the African American community. That led me on the pursuit to figure out the best ways to care for my family and community. With that being said when treating any patient I always ask myself, “Did I give them the same level of care that I would have given to one of my parents or family members?” This mindset as well as remembering the pharmacist’s oath to help those that you serve need to be in your mind every time you help any patient that comes into contact with you.”
2) Describe a first-hand experience which exemplifies that our profession is not devoid of racism. On second thought, experiences pertaining to any healthcare will do.
“I don’t recall any single moments where I experienced racism personally. But one thing that is in the back of mind is how underrepresented minorities are in the profession relative to their numbers in the general population. Even in everyday classes, it gets a little discouraging when you see relatively few people that look like you. Even though I try not to think about it too much, I would be lying if I said that it did not have any effect on me. Instead of dwelling on the issue I now use this as a motivator to hopefully show future generations that if I can do it anyone can do it.”
Final Thoughts
I remember when I first arrived to my school campus with my father for orientation as a freshman in college. The dean of the pharmacy program came up to my dad and talked to him about the importance of me being in the pharmacy program. When I first heard my dad saying that to me I did not think much of it, but now that I am a soon to be healthcare professional. I am starting to better understand my role of sharing my perspective with others. I can comprehend why many people may not be able to recognize the challenges faced by people that are different than themselves. That is why I chose to talk about self-awareness so much when asked about what I think people should keep in their minds when treating patients of any ethnicity. Now that I had time to reflect on my response to this article, I wish I chose to also talk about empathy. Empathy is defined as having the ability to understand or sense other people’s emotions and imagining what they may be thinking or feeling. The way I see empathy is having the ability to take a step back and try to put yourself in that other person’s shoes and see the situation from a different perspective. The reason why this is so important is because every single person is different in their own respective ways. So sometimes you may not understand the reason why people think or act the way they do. But that is not the important part. You do not have to understand every single person you interact with but I think it is important to take the time to listen and learn from each person no matter where the person comes from. Because every single person can teach you something new.
