Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 May;23(5):685-91.
doi: 10.1007/s11606-007-0481-0. Epub 2008 Jan 15.

Transforming clinical practice to eliminate racial-ethnic disparities in healthcare

Donna L Washington  1 , Jacqueline Bowles, Somnath Saha, Carol R Horowitz, Sandra Moody-Ayers, Arleen F Brown, Valerie E Stone, Lisa A Cooper; Writing group for the Society of General Internal Medicine, Disparities in Health Task Force
Affiliations

Transforming clinical practice to eliminate racial-ethnic disparities in healthcare

Donna L Washington et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2008 May.

Abstract

Racial-ethnic minorities receive lower quality and intensity of health care compared with whites across a wide range of preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic services and disease entities. These disparities in health care contribute to continuing racial-ethnic disparities in the burden of illness and death. Several national medical organizations and the Institute of Medicine have issued position papers and recommendations for the elimination of health care disparities. However, physicians in practice are often at a loss for how to translate these principles and recommendations into specific interventions in their own clinical practices. This paper serves as a blueprint for translating principles for the elimination of racial-ethnic disparities in health care into specific actions that are relevant for individual clinical practices. We describe what is known about reducing racial-ethnic disparities in clinical practice and make recommendations for how clinician leaders can apply this evidence to transform their own practices.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. None
    2. Geiger HJ. Racial and ethnic disparities in diagnosis and treatment: A review of the evidence and a consideration of causes. In: Smedley BD, Stith AY, Nelson AR, eds. Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. A Report of the Institute of Medicine. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2002.
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'DOI', 'value': '10.1016/S0002-8703(00)90017-6', 'is_inner': False, 'url': 'https://doi.org/10.1016/s0002-8703(00)90017-6'}, {'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '10783219', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10783219/'}]}
    2. Sheifer SE, Escarce JJ, Schulman KA. Race and sex differences in the management of coronary artery disease. Am Heart J. 2000;139(5):848–57. - PubMed
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '11529699', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11529699/'}]}
    2. Kressin NR, Petersen LA. Racial differences in the use of invasive cardiovascular procedures: Review of the literature and prescription for future research. Ann Intern Med. 2001;135(5):352–66. - PubMed
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '11901574', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11901574/'}]}
    2. Washington DL, Harada ND, Villa VM, et al. Racial variations in department of veterans affairs ambulatory care use and unmet health care needs. Mil Med. 2002;167(3):235–41. - PubMed
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'DOI', 'value': '10.2105/AJPH.2004.043570', 'is_inner': False, 'url': 'https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2004.043570'}, {'type': 'PMC', 'value': 'PMC1449512', 'is_inner': False, 'url': 'https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1449512/'}, {'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '16257951', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16257951/'}]}
    2. Washington DL, Villa V, Brown A, Damron-Rodriguez J, Harada N. Racial/ethnic variations in veterans’ ambulatory care use. Am J Public Health. 2005;95(12):2231–7. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types