The number of physicians I see on Twitter absolving themselves from change and action by saying “my anti-racist act is taking excellent care of each of my patients” is alarming and points to a major part of the problem.
A thread..
A thread..
2/ Medicine and health is in no way confined to the four walls of your hospital ward or clinic. Although generations of physicians may not have received formal teaching about SDOH does not mean we can pretend they don’t exist today.
3/ Even if you provide optimal care to your Black patient, they return to a life of racism and injustice. Inequity at every stage of life - perinatal outcomes, education, access to jobs / wealth, incarceration, food access...I could go on.
4/ Saying righteously that a doctor’s primary role is to “doctor” at the bedside to me shows an utter lack of (1) understanding of the true meaning of health and (2) courage to further self-reflect and work to make very difficult change in the world.
5/ I am exhausted by this line of defense by physicians on Twitter. Stop discouraging those who are ready to fight for societal improvement on behalf of their patients.
Do better.
#medtwitter
Do better.
#medtwitter
