Umbereen S Nehal, MD, MPH, MBA Profile picture
Sep 7, 2020 18 tweets 11 min read Read on X
This is a truth few want to admit. Rural health or inner city health depend on the full range of clinician types. When was a CMO of a 14-center FQHC with $100m budget, we already had massive staff turnover & burnout - ~50% loss in 2 years with hard to fill staff openings.
True, don’t have too much respect for those who simply want to fast track to “medical” cosmetic procedures to compete with plastic surgeons on Botox injections

vs extending needed care in primary care fields

but it is a free country

every healthcare loophole gets exploited
Please spare me, tho, attempts at superiority of who has more/less heart/ethics/intellect by training

Lots of fraud by in healthcare by

...humans

“fraudsters enlist unscrupulous health professionals ―doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners”

npr.org/sections/healt…
Frankly, have lost faith in the entire industry...

yes, industry

of delivery system (not care)

constant fighting for turf, power

💰 💰 💰

snarks vs tortured data to prove “superiority” of newer entrants

and weaponized “empathy”

withOUT commitment to anti-racism

Or quality
For the record, none of us get paid enough (vs tech fields). As an academic pediatrician & community health physician I learned I earned much less than median salary of nurses at the same institutions I worked per news coverage of a strike (on what was considered too low a wage)
This is not shaming but an observation not to make assumptions about salary or compensation.

Nurses do AMAZING work

I think everyone in direct service often is underpaid

compared to business side administrators who shift liability to others instead of showing leadership
I learned the latter the hard way - the lack of #leadership among people w/ titles in #healthcare

I got knocked down & bloodied

But like any a good #newyorktough story, got back up & punched back

that is what is respected here - in the U.S. & NYC

It is NOT “empathy” that is going to win any battle I wage in any c-suite position to address wage gap -

which, by the way, most affects Black women but is a fact often ignored by non-intersectional feminism or not addressed in #healthcare turf wars

fortune.com/2020/08/13/bla…
This year I am getting not just tougher or smarter but am getting more adaptive. ❤️❤️❤️ that I can learn from THE professor Heifetz who actually *gets* the core issues of #leadership and in the first few classes overtly addresses our nuanced & complex identities, including BIPOC ImageImageImageImage
Had multiple conversations w/ @MITSloanFellows on what is needed for BIPOC & women to address #BlackintheIvory types of issues that extend in various forms to all not “standard.” There is commitment to improving. SO thrilled can crossregister in meantime. hks.harvard.edu/faculty/ronald…
This is ALL over, from the bias among doctors, to executive coaching not designed for minority women, to nurse education - those of us who rise to positions of any authority only get more embattled yet others assume we have power our titles imply. Every day feels like a battle
While some are focused on churning out one #Medbikini publication after another

some of us are battling simply to have accurate data recorded in charts

if speak up on behalf of errors & bullying towards BIPOC patients/trainees, labeled doctor bully

go.beckershospitalreview.com/scott-becker-i…
This is why we MUST get past these turf wars. #Safety & #quality in #healthcare are #system level issues

worsened when we divide into warring factions

Patients are harmed when we overpolice each other on petty issues

Black, immigrant, LGBTQ, BIPOC are most harmed.
Instead of fighting, can we start to think about what our country needs? We simply don’t have enough clinicians, regardless of degree or training type. That is added to lack of access by hospital closures in rural areas. 8% of Americans lack insurance.

bhw.hrsa.gov/health-workfor…
Then there are the myriad risks within hospitals and clinics. Personally have experienced or seen it all as a patient, friend, family member. Near miss potentially fatal med error when I was being put under. Aunt killed by medical error. Friends lost healthy baby to medical error
This @bmj_latest study by @MartyMakary is oft criticized but regardless of quibbles over data, evidence of harm within #healthcare unavoidable. Can we fight the right battles? We are losing lives & hemorrhaging money/resources yet #MedBikini & turf wars?!
bmj.com/content/353/bm…
Who would want to be in a system like that? Is it even possible to show up at work in healthcare and not be an agent of harm? If I cannot honor “first do no harm” then what is the point? I’ve lost faith, yes.

The infighting is simply not improving anything for patients. ImageImage
I don’t exactly know what I am going to do at the end of this year.

I do intend to be able to honor “first do no harm” as well as work with super cool people I would actually enjoy working with, people I trust, and people I can create quality results with as a team.

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More from @usnehal

May 29, 2023
This. When I had experiencing #bullying towards myself, I had just walked away or been silent, keep moving forward.

Once I had some degree of “rank”, felt others should not “just deal”

I did speak up on behalf of those less powerful… which only set me up for this mislabeling.
That is not to say that as faculty you should not speak up for or defend students are trainees

but you should be aware of this.

If the #bully is a woman, then she can always claim that she is being “attacked”… “as a woman”

That narrative aligns with a common reality.
False narratives spread quickly

if they align with something that people recognize as a truth (& may even have experienced themselves)

This is particularly why Machiavellian types are strategic/smart to utilize/promote a female bully while they stay more quiet/behind scenes
Read 13 tweets
Jun 24, 2022
@ErinMarieMHCMEd @danpreston @JoshuaMZeitz @AmandaMarcotte All of this was already tested out vs American Muslims - the country was just fine with it. Regardless of what you think of the dad, killing/executing American citizen children by drone, along with father, should have been a big red flag on due process.

theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
@ErinMarieMHCMEd @danpreston @JoshuaMZeitz @AmandaMarcotte ~Half of Americans approve of/support torture. The idea is you can use profiling/bias to assume someone is a terrorist or sympathizes with terrorists, assume has information, torture them first, then retroactively justify violation of human rights.

pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017…
@ErinMarieMHCMEd @danpreston @JoshuaMZeitz @AmandaMarcotte Loss of Civil Liberties happened after 9/11: even if go white water rafting, spied on

pandemic killed >1 million dead but CDC has removed mask mandate & FL just refused to order vaccines=no interest in saving lives/prevention 9/11 killed 3K➡️police state

gothamist.com/news/nypd-spie…
Read 5 tweets
Jun 23, 2022
I think I need to go to law school. It might be a bit late to be #RBG & make it to SCOTUS… but seriously, it is all about the courts, the law, legal precedents.

Or maybe I just need to make myself small/silent enough to be able to fit into a government job again?
As hard as it is for me to stay in government long term given all the regulations that box you in/tie you up

plus needing to be a public servant to serve every taxpayer, even the ones you don’t agree with/like

Despite that, you *can* have an impact…small things at scale matter
There are times like this I want to be a cat & have 9 lives because there SO too many things I want to do…

…even though other times I am like, okay, how long exactly am I supposed to serve in this life because I am exhausted. (Albeit I did just recover from anemia.)
Read 5 tweets
Jun 23, 2022
For the first time in my life I felt unsafe doing #GOTV & got personally targeted & my photo posted on a QAnon type site.

More appalling was how many on #healthcare & #academia, if you are connected on social media like FB, are pro-violence & anti-rule of law & support J6.
If you are a Black, immigrant, LGBTQ, chronic illness, Muslim, etc person, patient, #HCW, teacher, heck yeah, is scary

Thing is those who have been safely tucked in cocoon of suburbia, worried about junior making the cut for the bball team
now feels suddenly scary

Us: not new
We *need* the ppl who typically enjoy more safety to step up. It feels “ick” to report, like you are an informant in Nazi Germany or something, but it is opposite: being “nice” & “not controversial” & “let’s all get along”
➡️empowers bullies

Be a true ally
Not bully ally

Cuz:
Read 5 tweets
Jun 22, 2022
Anyone who did not see this coming does not understand #tech…(which includes people who design #AI).

“Important nuances were lost in translation when a rule commonly used to measure disparate impacts on protected groups in hiring was codified for easy-to-use tools…AI fairness”
Every time I see “our #AI will solve bias! Give us your #DEI budget!” win an #innovation award, accelerator, #hackathon I feel exhausted…

institutions would rather purchase ineffective & worsening-the-problem #tech than hard work of holding ppl accountable or change culture
And this is how #DEI - how currently approached - is ineffective & wastes money because a small amount of money is thrown at it with zero/minimal real hard work & unwillingness to be uncomfortable. Hence these bills: amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/01/19…
Read 5 tweets
Jun 21, 2022
When will we admit that “clash of civilizations” of Islamophobia narrative is not only false but dangerous. “War on Terror”=waging war vs Muslims but #J6 & #BuffaloMassacre reveal terror is not one religion. When Muslims are “legit” targets…that supremacist hate spreads further. ImageImageImageImage
Who was it “okay” to torture? (assumed is a terrorist?) Whose civil liberties disappeared 20 years ago? Muslims.

“But you all ‘deserve’ it” we’ve heard &: Why didn’t you stop terrorism? Why haven’t you apologized about x & y?

Now: consequences of that

vox.com/2016/3/31/1133…
The “Great Replacement” is an extension of “Clash of Civilizations” that conflict/war is “inevitable” between “different” humans defined by race or religion. It dehumanizes some humans as “less than” or “threat.” Once you label as such, violence follows. vox.com/science-and-he…
Read 22 tweets

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