Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 10/12/2010 4:28:51 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
Nineteen-year-old Rhoda Asimeng has dreamed of becoming a physician since she was 13. She helped care for her two parents, both of whom were diagnosed with cancer when she was a junior in high school. Her father died of pancreatic cancer in 2009. Her mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which is now in remission.
"My parents having cancer, and really seeing what they have had to go through, I realized that helping somebody was something I really wanted to do," said Asimeng, now a pre-med sophomore at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. "I definitely want to become a doctor. That's what my calling is."
This summer, Asimeng completed a program at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y., designed to encourage black, Hispanic and American Indian high school and college students to pursue a medical career. Asimeng, who is black, and other interns spent the summer attending lectures, doing research, learning medical techniques, and following physicians and other health care professionals.
Montefiore's program is one example of efforts taking place nationwide to increase the diversity of the physician work force by attracting more racial and ethnic minorities to medical schools.
Many medical schools offer programs designed to foster an interest in science and medicine in children as early as elementary school. Some schools guarantee admission for high school students and college undergraduates who complete certain requirements.
At the same time, the Assn. of American Medical Colleges' Holistic Review Project is encouraging schools to re-evaluate admissions policies to ensure that they graduate physicians who can serve an increasingly diverse population.
U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, has challenged health leaders to increase the number of minority physicians, a figure that has remained about the same as it was a century ago.
In 2006, Hispanics made up 5% of the nation's physicians, while 3.5% of doctors were black and fewer than 1% were American Indians or Alaskan Natives, according to the latest data from the American Medical Association. However, these minority groups combined make up 30% of the U.S. population, according to 2009 U.S. Census Bureau figures.
"Having a diverse physician work force is key to making health care reform, as well as eliminating health care disparities, a reality," said Charles P. Mouton, MD, dean and senior vice president for health affairs at Meharry Medical College in Tennessee.
Medical schools have worked to increase diversity in the classroom for decades but with limited success, said Marc Nivet, EdD, the AAMC's chief diversity officer.
"We've stagnated really over the last decade in the number of minorities going to medical schools," he said. "The challenges are multiple. One of the largest and [most] long-standing is clearly the pipeline -- the availability of students applying to medical school."
Sometimes the efforts start earlier than college. The American Medical Association is working to increase the number of minority physicians through programs such as Doctors Back to School. Launched in 2002 by the AMA's Minority Affairs Consortium, the program sends minority physicians and medical students to schools to share their stories, raise awareness about the need for more minorities in medicine and serve as professional role models for children. Overcoming barriers
Asimeng realizes that medical school won't be easy. But she knows how to overcome challenges, having lived in a crime-ridden portion of the Bronx. When she visits there now, her friends don't believe she's headed for medical school.
"They just look at me in astonishment. They just never thought that someone from that neighborhood would have aspirations to really be ambitious and try to do something more," she said. "Many people just live there, stay there and die there."
In 2006, 5% of the nation's doctors were Hispanic, 3.5% were black, and 1% were American Indians or Alaskan Natives.
For many minorities from low-income families, becoming a physician seems like an unattainable goal, said Elizabeth Natal, MD, director of the Montefiore program and assistant professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.
Children who grow up in poor, medically underserved areas often lack positive mentors, parental support or a strong educational foundation. And the cost of medical school seems insurmountable to families struggling just to get by, Nivet said.
Nationwide, high school dropout rates are higher among blacks and Hispanics, and fewer minorities go to college, said Lauree Thomas, MD, associate dean for student affairs and admissions at the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine at Galveston. "Our educational system doesn't support minorities and first-generation [college] students going on to higher education. It is a tremendous uphill battle," she said.
Students from disadvantaged backgrounds need to learn to believe in themselves and stay away from negative influences, said Dr. Natal, who grew up in the Bronx and was out of school for eight years before pursuing a medical degree.
"Sometimes when we live in bad neighborhoods or bad areas, it's hard to get out of that. It's about learning that it's OK to be different and it's OK to strive for something more," she said.
Minorities today have more encouragement to become tomorrow's physicians.
For example, UTMB's Early Medical School Acceptance Program identifies college freshmen with an interest in the field and guarantees admission if they maintain a certain grade point average, make at least a 24 on the Medical College Admission Test and attend summer science courses.
The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine offers summer programs for high school students interested in medicine and biomedical research. The university's Chicago Academic Medicine Program helps disadvantaged undergraduate college students get the credentials they need to apply to medical school, said Holly Humphrey, MD, the school's dean for medical education.
First-year medical students at Pritzker must take a course on diversity and health disparities, which has proved to be a draw for some minority students, she said. One-year booster program
Drexel University College of Medicine in Pennsylvania admits about 25 socioeconomically disadvantaged students annually who have a four-year degree but don't have all of the prerequisites for medical school. The one-year program helps students get the scientific foundation they need and guarantees medical school admission upon completion.
"It's for students who have personality, experience, passion, drive and all the other attributes that would make them excellent physicians -- they just don't have the metrics," said Anthony Rodriguez, MD, Drexel's associate dean for student affairs and diversity.
Drexel participated in a pilot of the AAMC's Holistic Review Project that is getting medical schools to look beyond GPAs and MCAT scores. The goal is to ensure that schools capture a "broader picture of an applicant," including life experiences and what they bring to their classes, Nivet said.
For example, Drexel expanded its definition of underrepresented students to include first-generation college students and those who are educationally or economically disadvantaged.
"Each institution has to define what diversity means to them. How it will be implemented in each school will be a little bit different," said Ana Maria Lopez, MD, MPH, professor and associate dean for outreach and multicultural affairs at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
Before it opens in 2011, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine in Michigan will consider factors in admissions, such as a student's desire to practice in underserved communities and where geographically they are likely to serve.
"We are working on developing a focus and a framework for who we think would make a good medical student that goes way beyond test scores and grades," said Linda Gillum, PhD, the school's associate dean for academic affairs, faculty development and diversity.
In addition to attracting more minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students, medical schools must learn to retain those students, Dr. Mouton said. Students must feel they have mentors and peers they can relate to, and the school is committed to serving communities.
At Meharry Medical College, students are encouraged to practice in underserved communities. The majority of its graduates enter primary care, and up to 85% go on to work in underserved areas.
Federal court decisions have affected how schools recruit underserved populations.
In some cases, such as Hopwood vs. Texas in 1996, the courts have ruled against affirmative action policies. But in Grutter vs. Bollinger, the U.S. Supreme Court found in favor of the University of Michigan Law School when considering race and ethnicity as a part of admissions. Justices said they supported the school's goals of creating a "critical mass" of underrepresented minority students, at least until such policies were no longer necessary.
Back in New York, Asimeng said she's learned not to let anything stand in the way of her dream of becoming a physician. She said the Montefiore program reinforced her aspirations and gave her new direction.
She first wanted to become an obstetrician-gynecologist. But she was inspired this summer after seeing the close relationships family physicians have with patients. She's now determined to go into primary care.
"I thought this was just going to be a resume builder, but it's much more than that," Asimeng said. "It has changed my whole definition of what a physician is and showed me that becoming a physician can be achieved if you have the drive and determination for it."
The print version of this content appeared in the Oct. 11 issue of American Medical News.
Minorities make up a small proportion of medical students compared with the overall population. For example, blacks, Hispanics, American Indians and Alaskan Natives made up just 14% of first-year medical students in 2009. Those groups together make up 30% of the U.S. population.
Race/ethnicity of first-year students White 10,694 (58.15%) Asian 3,734 (20.30%) Hispanic 1,412 (7.68%) Black 1,136 (6.18%) Foreign 241 (1.31%) American Indian or Alaska Native 45 (0.24%) Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander 33 (0.18%) Other race 18 (0.10%) No race response 583 (3.17%) More than one race 494 (2.69%) Total 18,390 (100%)
Well, for my part, I won’t be satisfied until I see the mentally retarded represented in the medical community.
You cannot CREATE Doctors. It takes years of study and and hard work. You cannot fudge the tests, they have to be able to get good grades. You cannot say get more minority Doctors and they just appear.
I don’t know about anybody else, but if I ever need surgery I sure will want a white surgeon.
(shrug)
I can see that kind of program, where upon becoming a doctor in a particular state, one would then have to practice in a rural or underserved area for a determined period of time as a “payback” for the education. After that, they would be free to practice where ever.
Hey, so much for a good GPA. So what if the scalpel is an inch off or the diagnosis misses that key piece?
That “guy” was notorious as an incompetent, and he was killed mysteriously...undoubtedly by a relative of one of his victims.
“Diversity” is just a scheme to try to conceal inadequacy.
Nothing can make you feel better than contributing to the building of minority self esteem than by having an affirmative action medical practioner open you up, especially when you know he/she was pushed through med school with failing grades to enhance diversity statistics.
/sarcasm off
It has been in Med school for a long time. The only group that doesn’t get AA is white men.
One of the best doctors I ever had was black. He graduated from medical school in about 1955.
So will these diversity students get an automatic pass on the United States Medical Licensing Examination, too?
Exactly. The reasons there are more white doctors than others is because there are more white people than other people in this country -— at this point. To create some phony quota system is absurd, as there will be a greater or lower percentage of achievers in any ethnic group based on the cultural value of education and achievement. It is not an accident that Asian kids as a percentage are better students than other ethnics: it’s a family/cultural value. The same was and may still be true, generally, of Jews. Education and achievement were a huge priority in the home.
There are people who rise above the lack of familial interest in education, and that’s wonderful. They should be encouraged and assisted in achieving their potential.
But to simply decide, as the silly AMA seems to be doing, that we need more of this race or that ethnicity in a particular field is nonsense. Talent and intelligence do not break down in proportional percentages by race or heritage. Nor do ambition and determination.
When we try to engineer society, we end up lowering standards to meet the false god of “diversity” that should have nothing to do with the decisions being made.
I don’t care what color or sex my doctor is...I just want them to have at least a 115 IQ.
Someone taking on that much responsibility needs to be at least a little above average.
We need to start a campaing to boycott all of those medical schools that discriminate against black applicants.
Everyone knows tests and grades are racist concepts.
Uhhhh . . . not true.
In medical schools and residencies the cherished minorities are too important to fail. I saw it firsthand decades ago, and you know it’s just gotten worse since then.
There are more dumb-a$$ and lazy-a$$ minority doctors than you’d care to know. Certainly not all, but a scary amount.
My primary care doctor is a woman and all the evidence suggests that she’s a darn good one.
Well she COULD be a bad Woman but that would be a different story....
Somewhere in this country is the countries worst Doctor.
Someone is in his waiting room waiting to see him.
Why does her dream apparently matter so much more than the same dream by an Asian or white male? There should be no difference in the perceived importance of the dreams unless the judge is racist or sexist. But then, affirmative action is primarily supported by racists and sexists.
...the Assn. of American Medical Colleges' Holistic Review Project is encouraging schools to re-evaluate admissions policies to ensure that they graduate physicians who can serve an increasingly diverse population.
In other words, only a member of a particular race can provide good medical care to "his own kind." More rank racism, besides being dangerous nonsense that kills and maims. In any intellectually challenging profession, competence and diligence are the keys to good outcomes, not diversity. Diversity by itself does not improve anything.
My incompetent black dentist was not a better or worse dentist because he was black. My brilliant black rheumatology lecturer was not a better or worse rheumatologist because he was black. With no affirmative action, I might have been protected from the former (the damage he did to me cannot easily be repaired), while the latter would still have enjoyed a well-deserved stellar career.
Affirmative action should be eradicated like a communicable disease.
I have both black and white doctors. I go for BEST.
With the early retirement of up to 46% of primary care doctors because of 0’nazicare they better get in gear a lot faster.
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