Last week I discussed a few of the documented causes of health disparities. This week I will focus on one solution to address the health disparity dilemma. First, let me assure you that there are no quick fixes for this complicated and far-reaching problem. It has long been well-documented that the health profession needs to be more diverse in gender, race, and ethnicity. It is also well-documented that patients are more likely to trust physicians who come from a similar race, ethnicity, and even gender.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Office of Research and Statistics, reports that African Americans make up about 35% of the State's population but only 5.3% of the physicians, 7.7 % of the dentists, 9.4% of the nurses, and 4% of the pharmacists are African American. The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is very much aware of this problem and has been addressing the issue with aggressive recruiting in all six of its Colleges. The University of South Carolina has been doing the same, but both schools have experienced "pipeline issues". By that I mean, there is a decreasing number of African Americans, males and females, who are finishing high school as well as a decreasing number of African American college students qualified for admission to medical and other graduate schools. Many African American college students who have the credentials often choose professions that require less schooling and that offer more immediate financial reward.

I can state confidently that discrimination is no longer an issue in the College of Medicine at MUSC where African Americans now make up about 20 % of the student population and includes one of the largest classes of African American males enrolled in a non-black school in the country. The progress of these black students is essentially no different from the other students and their success negates the old stereotype that black students just barely get by.

National research data shows that African American physicians usually go back to the communities they came from to practice medicine and in South Carolina this seems to hold true. To help resolve health care disparities, the South Carolina black community has to continue to work for academic excellence in our schools so that we have a pipeline of excellent black students who are both encouraged to pursue careers in the medical profession and are supported when they do.

I am Dr. Thaddeus John Bell, Closing the Gap in Health Care.

Bell Update Chapter 2 Volume 14
Copyright April 2007

Closing the Gap in Health Care, Inc.