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I was hesitant to post this story, but I feel as though there is a young female resident out there who needs to see this today. #WomenInMedicine #BlackWomeninMedicine 1/
I'm a chief surgery resident, meaning I lead teams of interns, residents, and students. But even after years at my institution, people sometimes have a hard time seeing me as a doctor. 2/
While my white male colleagues can wear scrubs and patients and staff will call them doctor even if they're a student, I always wear my white coat. I even personally purchased one with thick fabric and fancy buttons with my institution's logo to look as legit as possible. 3/
I wear a badge at all times with "physician" in bright red attached to the bottom. When it fell off I went across the hospital to get a new one, because I'm so often mistaken for other staff. 4/
These are extra steps to prove I belong I think most #BlackWomeninMedicine will be familiar with, but surprises many of my white women and white Male colleagues. nytimes.com/2018/11/02/us/… 5/
I had been seeing one of my patients for several days in a row. Every day I would introduce myself as "Dr. Alimi" and subsequently introduced the remaining members of my team (white coat: check. Red badge: check). 6/
She was making good progress, so I told her, "You're ready to have some liquids today." She didn't respond to me, but turned her head to my male junior resident and said. “Well, let’s see what the doctor thinks." 7/
In that moment, I felt invisible. She looked past my coat, my ID, physician badge, and all my years of hard work to the white man in the room. 8/
I moved past this and calmly told her again who I was, and said again she could start taking liquids. The next day, she asked me if I was her nurse. She had no trouble recognizing the male members of my team . 9/
#ILookLikeASurgeon doesn’t encapsulate the many microaggressions that I experience as a black, female, surgeon-in-training, and regardless of the long white coat and the red decal that states “Physician” on my name badge. 10/
To many it remains unfathomable that I am actually a physician, let alone a surgeon. All the extra work, the acrobatics I have to do to remind patients of my training, of my right to be here, is draining, and can't overcome the most stubborn biases. 11/
Progress is slow. The pipeline is leaky. #Diversity in medicine needs to be improved and as #POC and #WomeninMedicine increase, I hope that these subtle microaggression occur less often for myself and my peers. statnews.com/2017/10/18/pat… 12/
Listen to your colleagues when they tell you how their experience is different, the barriers they face that you don't, the extra hoops they have to jump through. Lend an ear. Lend a hand. 13/
All I can do each day, is to hold my head up high and take the best care of my patients, regardless of whether they have yet to come around to the fact that #IAMASurgeon. 14/14 @gradydoctor @doczo1 @justtobheard @dr_uche_bee
