Pearls from 4/6/21 Medicine LEADS

The April 6, 2021 session of Duke Medicine LEADS featured a discussion led by Kimberly S. Johnson, MD, MHS, "The Why, What, and How of Conducting Health Disparities Research."

Panelist included, Larry Jackson, MD; Kai Sun, MD; and Isaretta Riley, MD, who weighed in for the health equities and disparities in medicine discussion.

Here are pearls and takeaways from the session:

  1. African American health disparities are pervasive across all organs and the entire lifespan of individuals, leading to increased mortality and decreased life expectancy.
  2. Disparities in health care are prevalent right here in Durham, North Carolina. These disparities are driven by many factors including health behaviors, clinical care, physical environment, and the social and economic environment.
  3. REACH equity (Duke Center for Research to Advance Equity) was created at Duke to develop and test interventions that decrease racial and ethnic disparities in health by improving quality of patient-centered care in the clinical encounter.
  4. REACH equity aims to be a home for collaboration for health disparities research. If you have interest in getting involved, there are many ways to do so, including bimonthly research work in progress virtual forums, a health disparities research curriculum, and three main projects of the organization including implicit bias training for providers, communication coaching in cardiology, and a needs-based care projects in critical care.

This session was not recorded.

Duke Medicine Learning, Education, and Discussion Series (LEADS) takes place each Tuesday at 12 p.m. Learn more and see schedule of upcoming sessions.

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