Practical Approach to Improving Equity and Justice in Otolaryngology (2023 AMW)
2023 AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting & OTO Experience
Themes of inequity and injustice are woven through the history of medicine. The national and specialty-wide conversation about these problems has become more open in the past few years, in parallel with major social movements around the world. These conversations have shed light on ways in which privilege, disadvantage, and systemic bias have contributed to diminished quality of medical care, particular among historically marginalized populations. We as otolaryngologists may wonder about what kinds of bias, whether implicit or explicit, may be affecting our patients or may be perpetuated in our own practices. This interactive and discussion-based panel, hosted by national leaders in diversity/equity/inclusion in otolaryngology, will complement other panels addressing inequities in health care, with a specific focus on how systemic bias directly affects our patients and practices on a daily basis, and how individual practitioners can begin to address those biases. Many efforts to address bias and equity require long term, systems-level changes, but we will focus our discussion on what we as individuals can do in our daily lives and practices. Previous sessions have been notable for high audience involvement and active and lively discourse on these issues and audience member experiences. Using case discussions, we will focus on racism, sexism, anti-LGBTQ+ and ableism bias, including effects on provider-patient interaction, treatment recommendations, and adherence to these recommendations. We will also address issues of diversity, where inequities in the pathway of physician training, recruitment, hiring, and promotion can influence the providers a patient may see. These issues will be examined for both academic and non-academic practice settings.
Credits
CME:1.0, MOC:1.0