 | By Stephanie Cornwell, Editorial Assistant | | | Allow me to introduce you to the Verywell Health Medical Advisory Board. Not only do these healthcare providers review our articles, they also meet to help us navigate difficult topics. Today's subject: Racism in health care. | | | Today's Top Story | | Doctors Call for Systemic Reform to Improve Black Health Experience |  | We have a problem with representation in the healthcare system. The majority of Black Americans are not seeing healthcare providers of the same race. And to get proper care, Black patients need more providers who understand the Black health experience.
According to a Verywell survey, one in three Black Americans report having experienced racism while seeking medical care. In a roundtable conversation, Verywell Health's Medical Advisory Board called for better representation among providers to help solve this problem.
A lack of representation leads to misinformation, stigmatization, and isolation. In dermatology, one of the least diverse medical fields, there is less emphasis on studying skin conditions that affect populations of color. It's difficult to even find pictures of dark skin conditions in textbooks.
Improving representation must start with bolstering medical education—namely by recruiting more Black students. Offering mentorships and forgiving medical student debt are also ways of supporting diversity.
| | Know More | | Institutionalized racism can drive people away from seeking help and worsen their health. Prioritizing diversity, anti-racism training, and better-informed communication could lead to more trusting patient-provider relationships. | | Feel Better | | The racial reckoning in the summer of 2020, along with the pandemic, brought opportunities to change the harmful norms of the healthcare system and society at large. Our panelists say both go hand in hand and that these changes must happen now. | | |  | | The Chilling Effects of the Texas Anti-Trans Directive | The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has begun investigating parents of trans minors for possible child abuse. This comes at the direction of Texas Governor Greg Abbott. While this is frightening, experts tell Verywell that the law has not changed. It's still legal to seek and provide gender-affirming care for trans youth in Texas.
The White House is officially getting involved, too. President Joe Biden issued a statement condemning Texas's attack on trans youth. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said any family or individual being targeted by a child welfare investigation should report their experience to his department's Office for Civil Rights. | | | | I Became Addicted to My Eczema Treatment | | Chi Villines started using topical steroids for eczema treatment in middle school. And they worked. But after 22 years of use, she became dangerously dependent on them. Learn what topical steroid withdrawal looks like, and how Villines used her experience to become a skin health advocate. | | | | | | | |  | | In an interview with Verywell, Shamard Charles, MD, MPH, calls healthcare providers to improve the Black health experience. |  | | We need to trust our patients. Part of building that trust is meeting them exactly where they are, but not doing that in a nominal way. We need to ask them questions. We need to have them repeat back what we said to them. | |  |  | Shamard Charles, MD, MPH
Executive director of public health at St. Francis College in New York.
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