Anti-Asian Racism in Healthcare
May is Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Heritage Month.
8.5% of healthcare workers are AAPI, compared to 6.8% of the U.S. population, making the AAPI population disproportionately represented in the healthcare field.
While Americans of Asian and Pacific Island descent have made many contributions to our healthcare system, they are facing increased discrimination at work and in their communities. In this episode, Dr. Esther Choo discusses racism faced by AAPI healthcare workers, and what we can do about it.
Racism and hate crimes against Asian Americans have surged across the United States recently. A survey from the Pew Research Center found that 73% of Asian Americans have personally experienced discrimination because of their race or ethnicity, and 27% have been subject to slurs or jokes since the start of the pandemic. Another study found that former President Donald Trump’s description of COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus” and “Kung Flu” led to a rise in anti-Asian hate online.
“That’s the funny thing about being Asian. In so many settings you feel totally invisible. And then when you’re visible, it’s in this really hateful way. We want to be visible, but also positively visible. It’s that duality of invisibility or the target of hate… those are two difficult extremes to bounce back and forth between”
In addition to erroneously being blamed for the pandemic, AAPI healthcare workers have faced patients refusing their care, being called racial slurs, and even being spat on.
What are healthcare organizations doing to protect employees? One study found that:
80% of Asian American have personally experienced discrimination based on ethnicity or race
60%+ feel they must work harder than non-Asian counterparts to succeed because of their identity
74% of white respondents report feeling empowered and supported professionally, compared to just 40% of Asian Americans.
“For Asian Americans, there are so many of us in healthcare. We’re disproportionately represented at the ground level... Then we are completely absent at the top. There’s this bamboo ceiling. It’s because of the way we are perceived as these worker bees who should mostly stay quiet, not have leadership roles or large voices, and who aren’t strategically gifted.”
Dr. Esther Choo. Dr Choo is an emergency physician, professor at the Oregon Health & Science University, and advocate for gender and racial equity. She is a founding member of Equity Quotient, which assesses organization culture to help create a culture of respect, and is a health columnist for MSNBC.
She is a science communicator and health equity advocate. And with over 200K followers on Twitter, she uses social media to talk about racism and sexism in healthcare.
Topics covered:
How AAPI health workers have been impacted from a rise in anti-Asian hate
How Dr. Choo responds when patients refuse care from her because of her race
Microaggressions, the Model Minority Stereotype, and other forms of discrimination at work
What can healthcare organizations do to improve organizational culture, promote equity, and better support their workforce
Resources
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