"Above all, do not harm" is what is desired of healthcare providers, but what if the damage is unintended and secretive? The effect may be damaging. In US society, people tend to consider themselves as democratic and free of racial prejudice. Besides, the citizens view their society as inclusive that considers all equally; sadly, it is known that this is not a fact. Despite the rise of divisive personalities from all sides of the political divide, there is still space for change in racial issues.
According to Bailey et al. (2017), Racial inequalities in the coverage and quality of health services are common and lead to chronic adverse health effects across colored populations. Discrimination perceived can simply reflect health care inequalities as well as health outcomes. Generally, research is required to better comprehend racial inequality in healthcare environments, which is expected to affect healthcare perceptions and results.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The ongoing study would investigate whether there is a correlation between levels of empathy and prejudice and discrimination in the healthcare field. The patient perceptions of standards are critical to research since there are a plethora of studies connecting them to healthcare outcomes (Tsai, et al., 2015). Quality perceptions are also being integrated into value-based financial incentives by government and other agencies and healthcare provider scores. Given the growing importance of perceived standards of care, further research is required to explain the variables linked with it.
Previous findings have shown that perceptions of prejudice in a healthcare environment are linked to other healthcare implications, like delayed or unfulfilled healthcare needs and elevated emergency room visitations and hospitalizations (Benjamins & Middleton, 2019). Benjamins and Middleton (2019) found out that African Americans tend to suffer more from adverse disease effects compared to Caucasians, although Caucasians are more likely to be afflicted with those diseases. It seems like this is due to prejudice and discrimination, mainly due to the overt attitudes of healthcare providers, which contribute to bias and discriminatory actions against African-American patients. Empathy, though, is a protective factor, and prejudice is less common in empathic practitioners. The current study will, therefore, explore the connection between compassion, race, and treatment or effectiveness of healthcare students.
Hypotheses
H 0 : African American patients get insufficient care due to prejudicial and discriminatory empathy from their healthcare providers.
H a : African American patients get adequate care, and there is no prejudicial and discriminatory empathy from healthcare providers
During the study, several observations will be made based on the hypothesis. The results of this study will reveal patient perceptions by healthcare provider respondents. For instance, find the correlation between the degree of empathy and the treatment given to patients based on race. However, there should be a direct correlation between patients of African American origin receiving inadequate care due to prejudicial and discriminatory empathy from health professionals. The outcome should be correct if the healthcare professional exhibits subconscious prejudice against African Americans; the possibility that their African-American patients may be linked with undesirable attitudes is significant. Whether the clinician has latent prejudices, even if they may not wish to harm them, the overt manifestations of racial prejudice manifest inequalities in the handling of their patients, like delays in the treatment of pain.
Participants
The total number of individuals participating in the study will be drawn from Howard University and recorded, based on the gender makeup, age range from 18-35 years old, and education. The participants involved in this study will be drawn from life sciences studies, like biological studies, nursing, psychology, and healthcare professionals. The education level of participants will range from having Doctoral Degrees to high school diploma. Besides, the participants' races will be African Americans, Caucasian, Asian, and Non-Stated self-identified individuals.
If the respondent is not qualified to participate in the study, they will be disqualified through a letter. The empiric research respondents will take the Jefferson Empathy Scale for Healthcare Practitioners. They will then be followed by one out of three patient vignettes requiring medical attention for broad symptoms that match a heart attack or panic attack, which will be decided by the month of birth option. Respondents born from January to April will receive the African American vignette, while the Caucasian vignette will be issued for May to August. Also, the non-State Race vignette will be given to those born in September through December. Participants will then take a ten-question personality inventory to determine the patient's personality rating, and it will take about 10 to 20 minutes to complete.
Sampling Method
Links to the survey questionnaire will be circulated via email, social media platforms, and second-year nursing class recruitment. All the participants will be selected from Howard University. Random sampling will be applied as the sample is required to represent the target population, and the sampling bias will be avoided (Hamed, 2016). Participants will be randomly allocated with one of three vignette choices, each depicting a medical emergency presenting signs that are unclear enough to be identified as either a heart attack or panic attack. The main variations in the vignette would be the race as a Caucasian patient, an African American patient, and a Non-Race client. The gender of the patient will not be indicated and required to be inferred by the respondent.
Respondents with a high degree of empathy are supposed to have a high level of care, assessed by their understanding of patients, their time to respond to the patient, and the ability to offer medication. Empathy levels of the patients will be measured, applying the Jefferson Empathy Scale, and a cumulative score of inquiries addressed to the patient will be reported in the African-American, Caucasian, and non-American race vignette settings.
Results will be tested for correlation between the prejudicial and discriminatory level of empathy among respondents and the level of treatment provided to their patients based on statistical significance. Opinions on the approach to the administration of medication based on the severity of the symptoms may be observed. A one-way ANOVA will be used to assess the effect of a patient's race on the perceived treatment. Post Hoc evaluation will be conducted applying the Tukey test to verify for significance the likelihood of treatment of African Americans relative to non-Race patients.
The material to be applied will be the "Google Forms" questionnaire. Before the respondents can start, they would have to say whether they are over 18 years of age and accept the survey's terms. Besides, the participants will answer five demographic questions, like sex, race, level of education, area of study, to evaluate the participants and better comprehend their perception.
Afterward, the respondents will be given the Big Five Personality Inventory: extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism, to define the patient's personality linked to inherent prejudice to the patient in the setting identified previously. Notably, the Jefferson empathy test can be modified to accommodate medical fields, not students or physicians. The only adjustment in the scale will be the changer of the term "physician" with the phrase "healthcare provider."
References
Bailey, Z. et al., 2017. Structural racism and health inequities in the USA: evidence and interventions. The Lancet , 389(10077), p. 1453–1463.
Benjamins, M. R. & Middleton, M., 2019. Perceived discrimination in medical settings and perceived quality of care: a population-based study in Chicago. PLoS ONE , 14(4), pp. 1-15.
Hamed, T., 2016. Sampling methods in research methodology: how to choose a sampling technique for research . International Journal of Academic Research in Management , 5(2), pp. 18-27.
Hojat, M. et al., 2018. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy: a nationwide study of measurement properties, underlying components, latent variable structure, and national norms in medical students. Advances in Health Sciences Education: Theory and Practice , 23(5), p. 899–920.
Tsai, T., Orav, E. & Jha, A., 2015. Patient satisfaction and quality of surgical care in US hospitals. Annals of Surgery , 261(1), pp. 2-8.
