implicit bias – End of Life University

Learn why cultural humility and awareness of hidden bias are essential in reducing racial disparities in care at the end of life.

My guest Dr. Kimberly Curseen is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care. She is the director of Supportive and Palliative Care Outpatient Services for Emory Healthcare and helps provide physical, emotional, and spiritual care for patients with cancer at any point in their disease process. She has helped educate physicians on implicit bias in healthcare and has written research articles for the Journal of Palliative Medicine and the Journal of Pain Symptom Management on structural racism and bias in palliative care. We discuss specific issues leading to racial inequities in healthcare and what we need to do to make changes and improve care at the end of life. Learn more about Dr. Curseen’s work:

med.emory.edu

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This episode includes:

How Dr. Curseen became interested in hospice and palliative medicine
What is “implicit bias” and how we can recognize it
Her work in rural Arkansas to educate community members and healthcare providers on implicit bias
Why we need “cultural humility” along with cultural competency training
How implicit stereotypes and biases contribute to racial inequities in healthcare
The current problem of racial disparities in pain management
Why improving racial disparities in advance care planning and hospice utilization must begin with our own personal work on hidden biases
How end-of-life care providers can develop cultural humility and a person-centered approach in their work
Why we need to change what we offer in end-of-life care to fit the patients that need care, rather than trying to force patients to fit into our existing model

Links mentioned in this episode:

Check out my 2 latest books The Tao of Death and Stories from the Dark Night
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If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu especially my newest donors Lacy Buynak and Grace Lawrence and to Robin Blanche and Sandy Jane Stacy for increasing your pledge.Thank you to my newest donors on PayPal Erin Collins, Debora Schauss, Kathleen Lynch, and Janice Wildrick! Also many thanks to Ann Hyland and Jerry for buying me coffees! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

Learn how honoring the sacredness of birth and death are key to healing the problems in our medical system.

My guest Dr. Nathan Riley specializes in both obstetrics and hospice and palliative care. He’ll share insights from his work at the beginning and the end of life and how the medical system fails to honor the sacredness of these two passages. We will discuss what needs to change in the medical system in order to heal disparities in medicine and honor natural birth and death. Learn more about Nathan’s podcast:

www.obgynowino.com

Listen here:

This episode includes:

How Nathan was inspired by the work of Drs. Paul Farmer and Albert Schweitzer
Death and birth are equally mysterious and both are often taboo subjects in our society
Death and birth are both vulnerable times of life and are pathologized and medicalized by the healthcare system
Reframing death as the beginning of something new and expanded
The problem with doctors’ focus on “the good outcome” rather than on meeting the needs of the patient in the moment
What goes wrong during medical training that leads doctors away from the sacredness of medicine
Slowing down, listening and empathy are essential steps for healing the medical system and improving medical care
Why doctors fear emotional closeness with patients
Implicit bias and health disparities in medicine
Why we must look within ourselves first if we want to eradicate racism in the systems where we work

Links mentioned in this episode:

Books by Victoria Sweet MD: Slow Medicine and God’s Hotel
Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: “Mind if we talk about death?” (only Patrons can purchase it). PLUS get our new bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes! Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu! Your contributions make all the difference!