Disparities From the POV of a Professional 🤪 (Mini Episode)

The podcast discusses healthcare disparities. The guest, Valerie Kidd, is a registered nurse with over 30 years of experience. She shares her observations of disparities in healthcare, such as differences in medication and lack of follow-up care for minority populations. Valerie also discusses her personal experiences of discrimination as a black healthcare professional and patient. She believes that having more representation and education are key to addressing healthcare disparities. Trust and effective communication between healthcare providers and patients are also important. Overall, Valerie emphasizes the need for better education, representation, and understanding in order to reduce healthcare disparities. Good afternoon and good evening all. Welcome to the Let's Think About It podcast. The topic of the day will be healthcare disparities. For those of you who are unaware of what healthcare disparities are, they are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations. And this definition is given by the CDC. Now that the audience has been briefed, it's now time to talk to my guest. So could you please introduce yourself by name? Hi, my name is Valerie Kidd. Okay, Miss Valerie, thank you for coming to my show. So can you give the viewers just a brief info about you, like your past jobs experience and like what you've done in healthcare? Yes, I've been in the healthcare field. I'm a registered nurse. I've been in a registered nurse for over 30 plus years. I've worked in neurosurgery, ICU. I also have worked in urology, worked with robotic patients. I've also worked in home care settings and also I've worked over the years with patients that have ventilation dependent. And also right now, I'm currently finishing up my doctor's and nurse practitioner and dealing with a psychotic health patient. That is awesome. By the way, y'all, this is my auntie. So black women is still. So when you hear the word or the phrase healthcare disparity, like what does that mean to you as a black individual working in the healthcare field? Yes, that means to me that I've seen it so many times over the years of how the healthcare disparity that I've seen, it has been dealing with our minority population where it's supposed to. It's from the lack of care when it comes to the care that's provided to them. So I've noticed over the years there, the other counterparts in different rates are treated in a certain different way when it comes to even giving their medications that is given to them. They're getting a certain type of medication as opposed to, I would say the minority population is given a different medication that cause more side effects as opposed to the other counterpart have given medication that cause less side effects. And also the lack of healthcare and the lack of follow-up that is given to them. And I've noticed over the years how they say to that the minority population is more prone to, I use that as an example, are prone to having high blood pressure as an example, or prostate cancer as an example. I don't think that all the time I really look at it, it don't be that they're more prone to it. It's just that it's the lack of care, the lack of education of them being educated about the disease process as opposed to what has been taught to their counterparts. That's a wonderful answer. From all the people that I've interviewed, you've given the best answer as a healthcare professional. So I love that. My next question would be like, as a healthcare worker, especially as a Black woman, have you ever felt like uncomfortable or discriminated against like working in the hospital or urgent care setting wherever you work in the office? Has that ever happened? Oh, absolutely. I went into, some years ago when I was in the urology department, I went from neurosurgery ICU to there. And I was the only African-American nurse there. I was the first African-American nurse they ever had there. And I was the only one there for a long period of time. And each time when I would be interacting with different ones, the first thing they would say to me, he said, oh, you're the new medical assistant. And then there have been times when the patient would say that, I need to speak to a nurse. And I said, okay, I'm a nurse. I'm just like, how can I help you? And there have been time I was in charge of the department and they would say, I need to speak with the person that's in charge. And it's like, I am the one that's in charge. They'd be like, okay, but I need to speak to the supervisor. I'm the supervisor that's in charge today and stuff like that. So I've encountered on all the different spectrum of them expecting for me to be a blind person, that I had to be the lower person of the department and it wasn't the case. And yes, I've definitely experienced it even when it comes to different times when it been to get healthcare and stuff. I don't go into a doctor's appointment to say, hey, I'm a nurse. I know this. And I just have seen the way I was treated and I've had to say that, hey, I understand this and I understand that. And I don't understand why you didn't take my blood pressure before you were talking about, oh, I think you might have high blood pressure. So you didn't take it properly. You probably need to do that a little different. So yes, I've definitely experienced the way to be treated. They change when they know that you're in the medical field, but I don't never go into any doctor's appointment and just say, hey, I'm a nurse and I know this. I just watch to see how I've been treated and sometimes not always the right way. Wow. That's crazy because my next question was for you. Have you ever been treated in a hospital setting outside of working? Have you been treated less? And you touched on that. So that's really interesting. And do you believe if we had more representation, such as more black physicians and black nurses, whatever it may be, do you feel like you'd be more comfortable going into a hospital setting? Or do you feel like it doesn't matter as long as the person is there to give equitable treatment? How do you feel about that? No, I think it really, really would make a difference if we have someone that mirrors you in the healthcare field, whether it be African American, lesbian, more any type of the minority because they're there to represent us because we are, I noticed over the years that you are stigmatized and they're always assuming that, well, they don't need this and they don't know that they didn't take care of theirself and they don't understand this and they don't understand that and they treat them a certain way. So, but if you got somebody there to say, hey, I mean, you go back to high blood pressure because that's one of the common things I see, they'd be like, oh, they don't want to take their medication. And no, because you gave them this particular medicine that's causing, especially the male population, you've given them this blood pressure medicine that's causing all these different side effects. If you would give them the same blood pressure medicine that you have given this Caucasian patient that's less side effect, they will be more prone to take them, but if they got all these different side effects, they're not going to take it. So, it's not that they don't take care of theirself, it's just about the way you're treating them, the medication that you're using to treat the problem and stuff like that. So, it's all of those different things. So, yes, I think that if we have more people that's of the same ethnicity, that would make a difference, where the patient would feel it's all about trust. And they have a good reason to not trust and not do what they're asked to do because of things that happened in the past. Not that we have to totally live in the past, but it's been proven so many different times. That is the issue. Thank you. That's a very good point. I've been telling people about this, but thank you. So, my next question for you is, as someone who's been in the healthcare industry for 30 plus years, do you feel like health disparities are becoming more and more common? Is it just continuing to raise or is it at a set level? How do you feel about it? Is it just becoming more frequent? I think it's still there. I think one of the biggest problems with healthcare disparities is the lack of education. I think that our population and different other minority populations need to be educated more. That's one of the things that has drawn me into doing what I'm doing now, is that I've decided not to complain about the situation, about mental illnesses, not complaining about there not being enough healthcare providers, and not being enough people being afraid to go in and get care. And they're thinking that, okay, if you've got some type of mental illness, that means that you're crazy. But it's not true that you're crazy. It means that I think they need to be educated. Education will really make the difference, but they're not going to be educated. They're not going to allow a different, especially, and I can use our race as an example, they're not going to seek help for mental health illness. I mean, their seeking help for mental illness is very low because of a lack of education. And if you educate the population more, then they will go out and get more. I think they will seek more healthcare if they just understood. Understood. But because of lack of education, that has caused it to be more than what it normally be. That's why you see so many different people on the street that's homeless, and drug addiction, alcohol abuse, all of this stuff running hand in hand. So I think instead of me complaining about what needs to be did, that's why I decided to go into the change and go into what I'm in now to try to be a part of the solution. That's amazing. And so touching on what you just said, it kind of goes with this next question when I'm about to ask you. So what do you believe is a leading cause of healthcare disparities? So for instance, could it be classism, racism almost? What do you think is a cause? Or like you said, less education because a lot of people are misinformed about their health. So what do you think is a leading cause? The leading cause I would think is that a lot of people... Okay, healthcare is provided when it comes to a lot of people not really... Even though they're telling they can apply for insurance, it's a lack of knowledge or being able to go to the system, the healthcare system, is it Department of Human Service to even get medical insurance. Even when some people have medical insurance, they still don't understand all the time what it is that is provided for them. It can be free healthcare. It can be free healthcare is provided, but also the service. Some people will go to one doctor for everything. They need to understand that you don't have to go to one doctor for everything when there's so many different doctors that is available for every different issues that you might have. If you're having junk problems, you need to go see an orthopedic doctor. If you're having a problem with your ear, you need to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor. It still goes back to the lack of education or really understanding how to get the proper health care that you need. And also, too, it also becomes fear and trust, not trusting the healthcare provider, even though sometimes that they might give them the medications, they're really understanding the first time they get a medication, they cause a different side effect. Oh, I stopped taking that medication because it didn't make me feel good. What did you explain to them that let them really understand that you're going to have those different side effects, but you got to give the medication a chance to sit in, or either we can come back, we can readjust your medication to something else. So it all comes back to the lack of being educated about their healthcare, the issues that they're dealing with, and the different types of treatments that are available, not just one type of treatment. Thank you so much. And the last question for today is, what do you think is like, and I know this question is very broad, but what do you think could be a solution to limiting healthcare disparities? What do you think could be? What could be a solution? I know that's a broad question. No, I think the solution, it still goes back to, I guess I keep saying education. That's one of the things is education, really, really educating our people and having them to see, having providers available that mirrors them. That is one of the things, back to what we're talking about, not having enough minority people available in the healthcare field that mirrors them. That would probably stop some of the disparities, because they're not going to first say, oh, I'm not going to trust this person that's of a different ethnicity of them. They're not going to trust them. So it's about trust too. If you put somebody in there, you make someone available that mirrors their, who they look like, then they're more apt to be open. And they're more apt to follow direction. They're more apt to probably seek help. So when this provider says, hey, this is what's going on, you need to see this doctor. And that, because if you do that, and they probably be like, I'm looking for you to come back. So it's about the way you interact with the patient. And it's also about when the healthcare provider, do they listen? Do you go in and do you look at the patient when you're talking to them? Or do you sit and you type the whole time you're talking to the patient? Do you take the time? Or is this, you got two minutes to listen to them, or you got three minutes to listen? But if you listen to them, then a patient is more apt to do what it is that you're asking them to do, because you have to develop a relationship with them. It makes a difference. Thank you. So I just want to say thank you so much, Auntie, for being on my show. You're welcome. The answers that you gave were very informative. I feel like people can learn a lot, because with some of the things that you were saying, I didn't even kind of realize this. Especially hearing it from a health professional point of view, this was very amazing and very informative. So thank you guys for tuning into my podcast. And I hope to see you guys on the next episode. Be blessed.