Systemic Racism In Department Of Health Care

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From a historical perspective, racism is intricately woven into the fabric of what we may call America. Today, as in the past, this oppression is not a minor addition to U.S. society's structure but rather is systemic across all major institutions. Oppression of non-European groups is part of the deep social structure. Penner: This systemic issue has led to the marginalization and setbacks of African Americans in contemporary society in multiple ways. Fagin (2006) addresses this, stating that systemic racism "encompasses a broad range of white-racist dimensions: the racist ideology, attitudes, emotions, habits, actions, and institutions of whites in this society.” Thus, systemic racism is far more than a matter of racial prejudice and individual …show more content…
Department of Health and Human Services defines Health Literacy as the ability of individuals to find, understand, and utilize information and services to make informed decisions about health for themselves and others. When examining health literacy through a racial lens, particularly concerning African Americans, it is commonly divided into two categories. One binaural aspect considers how systemic racism impacts the perception of health care providers in the eyes of African American patients, while the other focuses on implicit bias that is then shown through the actions of health providers. Implicit Bias from Patients & Effects Regarding the patient's perspective, research (Greer et al. 2014) findings indicate a significant correlation between perceived racial biases among healthcare providers and mistrust of care. In this particular study, it was found that the more a patient was “self-proclaimed” exposed to systematic racism, the more likely they were not correctly using the hypertension treatment that was given to them. This suggests that increased perceptions of provider biases lead to greater mistrust of healthcare services. Additionally, regarding treatment adherence, a significant interaction was observed. Patients who reported low to moderate exposure to systemic racism exhibited poorer treatment adherence when they perceived greater racial biases from their healthcare providers. Another example of systematic racism influencing the perceptions of healthcare providers in the eyes of African Americans could be seen in the reexamination of COVID-19 vaccine distribution during the pandemic era (Morgan et al., 2022; Gravely, 2020). These studies showed significant connections between COVID-19 vaccine behavior and perceived discrimination and medical mistrust between doctors and patients. African Americans and other minority groups are prone to avoiding medical vaccines due to racial assumptions. Building on this, Gravely