Affiliation:
1. University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, USA
Abstract
A recently graduated pre-health student reflects on the valuable lessons learned about race and health outcomes in social science and humanities courses throughout her undergraduate interdisciplinary program. Coinciding with her unique college experience were the turbulent events of 2020, with a global pandemic and the murder of George Floyd bringing to light racial inequities in the student author's own backyard of Minneapolis. These events illustrated the need for empathetic and humanistic health professionals who are aware of and can address race and health inequities. Based upon research from her honors thesis, this chapter will use the example of maternal health disparities to demonstrate the complex history of racism in healthcare and the impact of system levels on health. The authors make the case for using liberal arts courses to prepare students to become health professionals who have interpersonal and intrapersonal awareness necessary to address racism and health inequities.
Reference69 articles.
1. Prevalence of Comorbidities and Risks Associated with COVID-19 Among Black and Hispanic Populations in New York City: an Examination of the 2018 New York City Community Health Survey
2. BartonA. J.MordecaiJ.BrandtB.DieterC. J.WilliamsS. D. (2020). Social Determinants of Health: Nursing, Health Professions and Interprofessional Education at a Crossroads. National Academies Press.
3. Bridgewater, P. D. (2001). Un/Re/Dis Covering Slave Breeding in Thirteenth Amendment Jurisprudence. Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, 7(1), 11–43. https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/crsj/vol7/iss1/4
4. Towards Antiracism: Using Critical Race Theory as a Tool to Disrupt the Status Quo in Health Professions Education
5. Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus in Minorities in the United States