VIDEO: Talking to patients about the role of race in clinical decision-making builds trust
In this video, Insa M. Schmidt, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of medicine at the Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, discusses patients’ perceptions on how race factors are used in clinical decision-making.
This topic was examined in a recent study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, where Schmidt and colleagues interviewed 23 patients.
Most of the patients were unaware of how racial factors are incorporated into clinical decision-making, Schmidt said. She said the findings highlight a “need for a more open and sensitive patient-provider communication on these issues.”
Moving forward, Schmidt said the inclusion of race in clinical decision-making should be openly discussed. These discussions, she added, help rebuild trust between patients and the health care system and may “eventually lead to policy change.”
“One example where I think this has worked is ... the development of the race-neutral [estimated glomerular filtration rate] equation to estimate kidney function. This has been initiated by the American Society of Nephrology and the National Kidney Foundation task force,” she said. “The new equation has been successfully developed and implemented in many clinical settings already.”