and other underrepresented patients aware of and
involved in medical research and clinical drug trials.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, fewer than 15 percent of people registered for
clinical drug trials are non-white, even though these
groups are disproportionately more at risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes.
“There’s no way of knowing whether a drug is truly
effective on a diverse population if minorities are not
represented in trials,” says Calvin Roberson. As vice
president of planning and program development for
the nonprofit Indiana Minority Health Coalition, Roberson is working to increase drug-trial and research
participation through educational awareness. “Once a
drug has been released, the discovery that it doesn’t
work in this population comes too late.”
Building more trust in healthcare clinicians is
key. Organizations such as the Center for Information & Study on Clinical Research Participation have
developed and distributed bilingual brochures and
DVDs at health fairs and community events to dispel
fears Blacks and Latinos may have with the medical
profession, while stressing the importance of clinical-trial participation. “For Blacks, we acknowledge the
abuses of the past, but stress that we cannot develop
treatments for the next generation without their
participation,” explains Diane Simmons, the center’s
president and CEO. “We assure Latinos that they’re
understood as a people, which we reinforce with
language and images that show
an understanding of what’s
important to them.”
Another approach: to
recruit more Black, Latino and
American Indian physicians
and researchers. For example,
initiatives such as the National
Medical Association’s Project
IMPACT (Increase Minority
Participation and Awareness
in Clinical Trials) are preparing
Black physicians nationwide
to work in clinical research.
In Indiana, a leading pharma-
ceutical company is part of a coalition committed to
teaching physicians from rural and underrepresented
communities how to incorporate clinical trials into
their practices.
CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING
Healthcare practitioners have not only begun speaking
to patients in their preferred languages, but more and
GLOBAL LEAD: BUILDING DIVERSE,
CULTURALLY COMPETENT WORK FORCES
The healthcare profession must reflect the
patient population in order to provide quality care. But today’s organizations are facing new challenges, says Patricia Melford,
vice president of client services for the
international management-consulting and
education firm Global Lead.
One issue is recruiting professionals
who are female and/or Black, Latino, Asian
and American Indian. Ironically, the nursing
profession has a different problem—a lack
of men in the pipeline. (According to the
American Nurses Association, only 5. 7 percent of nurses are male.)
“In nursing, what’s often missing is gender diversity, especially men from diverse
backgrounds,” adds Melford. That’s true at
most levels of nursing, from the floor nurses
to the administrators and chief nursing offi-
cers. That’s why Global Lead suggests that
organizations build long-term relationships
with nursing schools to fill the gaps. “We
encourage our clients to create summer-internship programs for talented students
from those schools and to send managers
with hiring authority on recruiting trips,”
advises Melford.
Global Lead also helps organizations initiate cultural-competency educational programs. For example, Global Lead recently
provided training to the medical residents
of a healthcare facility located in an area
that has a large Somali population. Among
Somalis, it’s best to use same-sex healthcare
professionals whenever possible. Typically,
Somalis prefer that a physician not tell patients or their families that the patient is dying; instead, the doctor should describe the
extreme seriousness of the condition. Initially, “the
residents viewed
these practices
as a barrier that changed how they delivered healthcare,” says Melford. But when
Global Lead’s workshop put the Somali
patient behaviors into cultural context,
the doctors were better equipped to treat
these patients.
“Our focus is to take a work force that’s
committed to doing the best possible work
every day and help them understand that
because of issues of diversity and inclusion,
the important work they do needs to look
different,” says Melford. “They need to filter that same excellent healthcare through
a diversity lens.”
