A doctor must know a patient to adequately treat them. Typically, when a subject is being studied in other sectors of science, researchers analyze the corresponding environment as well. This approach can be beneficial in health care. For that reason, medical professionals are encouraged to pay attention to social determinants. To improve the quality of health care, it is essential to understand all the problems patients face and what factors may be the cause. Bias is a major issue within the medical industry, but diversity is a great solution to this problem. If you are interested in the importance of diversity in a medical setting and innovative methods to bridge the doctor-patient gap, we invite you to read this article.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.news-medical.net

Although doctors use various diagnostic tests to determine a patient’s health, the start of the diagnosis process is the patient’s description of their symptoms. Since the patient narrative provides most of the information medical professionals use for a diagnosis, it is important to understand patients.

Diversity in health care improves the efficacy of communication. Culturally, some phrases are used differently than the dictionary definition, and patients can speak different languages. This can make communication in a health care setting a bit difficult. If there is a language barrier that causes misinterpretation, the patient can receive improper treatment or a misdiagnosis.

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai believes in the importance of diversity; they developed technology to implement and promote diversity in health care. The Diversity and Inclusion Hub (DIH) aims to promote employment of women as well as people of color, identify health care related issues, and decrease bias. With this technology, The Icahn School of Medicine hopes to strengthen the relationships between medical professionals and their patients. In return, this will provide a better patient experience and potentially improve treatment.

Katie Anderton of News Medical states that “This endeavor – known as the DIH – will serve as an incubator for cutting-edge ideas, utilize the latest technology and data, and represents a first-of-its-kind effort among medical institutions to diversify the pipeline as a career path while using innovation and technology to address social determinants of health in our surrounding communities.” This technology will help pinpoint problems that would otherwise go unnoticed, and it will extensively brainstorm solutions. The Mount Sinai team also went a step further, working with local community leaders to better understand gaps in health care and building bonds with the community they serve. They acknowledge problems surrounding lack of diversity in health care, the issue of equity, and how that issue relates to underserved patients’ treatment.

Not only is the actual technology used in the DIH innovative, but to acknowledge the role social factors have in health care is a noteworthy advancement. To learn more about the DIH and the Icahn School of Medicine’s work, please visit the News Medical website for the full article.

One Million Solutions in Health takes pride in connecting with different communities to discuss major issues in health care. It understands the power that basic communication can have on innovation and the importance of diversity in health care. To learn more, please contact info(at)onemillionsolutionsinhealth.org.