The many subtle and overt ways that physicians from minority ethnic backgrounds experience racism in the workplace have been revealed in a US study.
Doctors describe a daily barrage of microaggressions and bias, being tasked as “race ambassadors” and having to negotiate their personal and professional identity while being seen as “other”, according to a report in JAMA Network Open .
The study authors interviewed 27 physicians from different ethnic backgrounds who were enrolled in 21 residency programs across a variety of specialties
They identified three major themes:
- Minority doctors are routinely subjected to racism, but reluctant to report it
The racism that doctors encountered fell on a spectrum from “nuanced” to “glaring” and came from all quarters: colleagues, program leadership, ancillary staff and patients.
Some doctors described being subjected to explicit bias, with one Hispanic physician recounting being told by a patient “someone like you should go back to where you came from”.
Others described fielding persistent inquiries about their ethnic background from colleagues.
They also recounted being “routinely” mistaken for other minority residents, or for hospital janitors and transport staff, despite wearing white coats and stethoscopes.
“The one that happens the most frequently is patients thinking that I’m like transport,” commented one doctor. “Not recognizing that I am their physician surgeon that’s going to be operating on them and just seeing that thought process go through their head. Or having patients that are like, ‘Oh you don’t really look like a doctor.’”
But many physicians expressed a reluctance to report their experiences to hospital leadership teams, due to a fear of retribution or being perceived as ‘playing the race card’.