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Inclusive Language and Health Equity Resources
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Resources for medical professionals to learn about building trust with their patients.

Inclusive Language and Health Equity Resources

The WSMA and WSMA Foundation identified the need to mitigate the harm of racism perpetuated throughout medicine and set a goal to develop a plan for physicians and PAs to build authentic relationships of trust with diverse communities through mentorship, education, and community support programs.

This web page is a starting point for medical professionals to learn about building trust with their patients.

Best Practices for Culturally Sensitive Care

Building and maintaining trustworthy relationships with your patients is critical to delivering equitable and culturally sensitive care. Make the commitment today to advance health equity for the patients you serve. The WSMA and the WSMA Foundation has developed the following guidance for delivering culturally sensitive care.

Delivering Culturally Sensitive Care to Improve Rates of Colon Cancer
Screenings one-pager

Delivering Culturally Sensitive Care to Improve Rates of Colon Cancer Screenings

Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer diagnosed in the United States with about 4.2% of men and women being diagnosed at some point in their lifetime. Currently, the U.S. Preventive Services Taskforce recommends starting screening for colorectal cancer at age 50, with some risk factors such as a family history indicating earlier screening. In Washington state, of adults aged 50-75, only 63% with commercial insurance and 43% with Medicaid received screening, with variation by county.

Delivering Culturally Sensitive Care to Improve Rates of Colon Cancer Screenings one-pager  

Delivering Culturally Sensitive Care to Prevent Maternal Mortality

The U.S. has the worst maternal mortality rate among developed nations. Death rates amongst Black birthing people are higher than other racial groups. Black birthing people are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White birthing people. Pregnancy-related mortality is preventable if the root causes are identified and addressed early on.

Delivering Culturally Sensitive Care to Prevent Maternal Mortality one-pager

Delivering Culturally Sensitive Care to Improve Early Detection of Endometrial Cancer

Endometrial cancer is detectable early due to symptoms such as postmenopausal bleeding. It is always treatable and often cured. Black women have a 98% higher rate of death from endometrial cancer compared to white women, much of which is due to late-stage diagnosis. The goal is to have no difference in stage of endometrial cancer diagnosis by race, class, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

Delivering Culturally Sensitive Care to Improve Early Detection of Endometrial Cancer one-pager

 
 
 

Additional Resources & Further Reading

Relationships of Trust presentation PowerPoint slides [to be provided closer to the presentation date]

WA State Health Coalitions

Community Health Board Coalition - CHBC is comprised of the 15 local Health Boards listed below. Websites are provided where available.

For Further Reading

Achieving racial and ethnic equity in U.S. health care. Scorecard | Commonwealth Fund. (2021, November 18). Retrieved April 25, 2022.

Bailey, Z. D., Feldman, J. M., & Bassett, M. T. (2021). How structural racism works — racist policies as a root cause of U.S. racial health inequities. New England Journal of Medicine, 384(8), 768–773.

Guidelines for Inclusive Language. Linguistic society of america. (n.d.). Retrieved May 2, 2022

Heal overview: AHA. American Hospital Association. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2022

IFDHE AHA Institute for Diversity and Health Equity. (n.d.). The health equity roadmap. The Health Equity Roadmap. Retrieved April 25, 2022

Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, Smedley, B. D., Stith, A. Y., & Nelson, A. R. (Eds.). (2003). Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. National Academies Press (US).

Josh, L., & Casey, K. (2017). Social determinants of health: How are hospitals and health systems investing in and addressing social needs? (pp. 1–22). Deloitte.

Office of Minority Health U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2013, April). National standards for culturally ... - think cultural health. National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care: A Blueprint for Advancing and Sustaining CLAS Policy and Practice. Retrieved April 26, 2022

PatientEngagementHIT. (2017, August 7). Doc biases hinder patient-provider communication, outcomes. PatientEngagementHIT. Retrieved May 2, 2022

Racial and health equity: Concrete steps for health systems. (n.d.). Retrieved May 2, 2022

Soled, D. (2021). Distributive Justice as a Means of Combating Systemic Racism in Healthcare. Voices in Bioethics, 7.

Sullivan, D., & Simmons, M. (2021, January 25). Incorporating inclusive language. Advisory Board. Retrieved May 2, 2022

Task force recommendations to address racism | Mount Sinai—New York. (n.d.). Mount Sinai Health System. Retrieved April 30, 2022

The Family Institute at Northwestern University. (2022, February 7). Inclusive language guide. NU-MAC. Retrieved May 2, 2022

Thoroughgood, C. N., Sawyer, K. B., & Webster, J. R. (2021, August 27). Creating a trans-inclusive workplace. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved May 2, 2022

Wispelwey, B., & Morse, M. (2021, March 17). An antiracist agenda for medicine. Boston Review; Boston Review.

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