Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
A group of Dayton doctors early in their careers are piloting an anti-racism dialogue training never before applied to the field of medicine.
The program offered to the Wright State University OB-GYN residents for the past year will soon be expanded to include Boonshoft School of Medicine administration and eventually faculty, other medical residents and students.
The training facilitators hope the program expands beyond Wright State someday and helps as many doctors as possible grapple with their biases.
Black and minority people in the Miami Valley and the country have poorer health outcomes on average, including higher rates of maternal and infant mortality and shorter life expectancies. The racist biases, unintentional and intentional, among health care professionals likely contribute to that.
The long-term goal of this training is to create more equitable treatment and outcomes for patients, said Dr. David Dhanraj, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Boonshoft School of Medicine.
“If we create a group of (doctors) who have the ability to listen and to relate and to build trust and relationships, I truly believe that’s what the answer is,” he said. “This is the first step on a thousand-mile journey.”
