More DEI Bans Will Have Dire Side Effects for Public Health

MedPage Today December 4, 2024
Lilian Bravo, PhD, RN

— Clinician diversity may be at risk with the new administration

As a registered nurse, I’ve seen how cross-cultural misunderstandings can lead to poor care for my fellow Hispanic patients and families. Sometimes this happens because medical staff see them as “good patients” who are “low-maintenance.” But in reality, they often decline to voice their needs because a cultural value, respeto, leads them to defer to authority figures. Sometimes the opposite happens: Staff may believe their Hispanic patients are unreasonably resisting the treatment they need. However, there typically are other factors at play, like increased medical mistrust among Hispanic populations, especially in the context of increased anti-immigrant rhetoric in the U.S.

My father is one of those patients who was...

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