While most medical professionals understand the broad effects of racism on both health outcomes and society, many do not speak out when an incident occurs, according to a Feb. 12 study.
The research, published in Springer, asked 948 healthcare workers at Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital, ranging from interns to fellows, about their thoughts on the effects of racism in healthcare and in society. They were also asked how likely they would be to intervene in a racist incident and whether they had in the past.
The majority of the respondents agreed that racism has large effects on society and on health outcomes, but male and older respondents had the least conviction of this compared to others. The more people endorsed the statement given about the effects of racism on healthcare and society, the more likely they were to speak up on racism in the workplace. However, only between 21.7 percent and 40.5 percent of respondents reported speaking up after a racist encounter took place, and between 45.8 percent and 64.0 percent of respondents were neutral in such situations.
While gender didn't affect the likelihood that the respondent would speak up about a racist policy or encounter, women were more likely to speak to someone else about the incident. This means they were more likely to discuss the incident with a non-leadership colleague who wasn't involved in the incident.