Quinn Capers, MD, observed such drastic racial disparities in care during his residency that he has vowed to make that problem one of his greatest priorities as associate dean for admissions at the Columbus-based Ohio State University College of Medicine, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Dr. Capers, also a cardiologist at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center, offers employees at the hospital twice-monthly workshops on how unconscious bias may affect their decisions, and he hopes to expand the workshop to medical students in the coming months. So far, he has taught nearly 70 workshops usually attended by 15 to 30 people.
"We all need this kind of thing, but my goodness, especially in healthcare where you're taking care of people's well-being, you're treating pain, you're treating people who are dying," Dr. Capers told The Columbus Dispatch. "You really want to be as pure-hearted as you can."
Dr. Capers trained at Cook Ross, a Maryland-based consulting firm that specializes in diversity and inclusion. Howard Ross, one of the firm's founding partners, said the trainings are important for medical professionals to deliver the most effective care possible to all patients.
"This work is really valuable in helping us make decisions consistent with our own values," Mr. Ross told The Columbus Dispatch. "If we have blind spots and don't realize where we're making decisions from, we're likely to make decisions inconsistent with our values."