Time and space as operations of racism in healthcare

Image

In this piece, Arianna M. Planey explains how spatial access to healthcare arises from processes of structural racism, and thereby contributing to the impacts of time as a social determinant of health that produces racial inequities in healthcare access and outcomes.

“We discuss the potential for health/medical geography to contribute to a policy-relevant geographical research agenda that remains attentive to social theory debates. We illustrate the importance of time as a social determinant of health, through the case study of racial/ethnic inequities in spatial access to acute hospitals in the U.S. South region amid rural hospital closures, conversions, and mergers, which have decreased the supply of hospitals since 1990. In sum, racial disparities in spatial access were most pronounced for travel distances/times to the nearest alternative hospital, underscoring the importance of both temporal and spatial equity.”

Planey, A. M., Wong, S., Planey, D. A., & Ko, M. J. (2022). (Applied) geography, policy, & time: whither health and medical geography?. Space and Polity, 1-13.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13562576.2022.2098649

Declaring that DEI is important is not enough: We need action

Image

How to DEI

Three years in the making: a group of PhD students in health services and policy research (HSPR) set out to examine the workplace culture in the profession, with a particular eye to how our field fares with respect to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Bert Chantarat, Taylor Rogers, and Carmen Mitchell surveyed over 900 professionals and students, and conducted focus groups of those from historically and structurally excluded from the profession. In this publication ahead of print from Health Services Research, they report their findings from the survey:

“While the racial and ethnic diversity of the health services and policy research (HSPR) workforce has improved, significant gaps remain for groups historically and structurally excluded from health professions.

…

“HSPR workforce members experience non-inclusive, inequitable environments, with those from historically and structurally excluded groups reporting frequent discrimination.

“Those working in HSPR from historically and structurally excluded groups perceive their workplace DEI efforts to lack substance and focus on planning and reporting rather than implementation.”

“The field will not continue to improve toward creating a diverse workforce, and inclusive and equitable workplaces until a critical mass of people, especially leadership, begin working together seriously to address these issues. Declaring that DEI is important is not enough; effective actions must accompany such declarations.”

Check out the full article here:

Chantarat T, Rogers TB, Mitchell CR, Ko MJ. Perceptions of workplace climate and diversity, equity, and inclusion within health services and policy research. Health Serv Res. 2022 Jul 9. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.14032.