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Race/Ethnicity and Workplace Discrimination: Results of a National Survey of Physicians

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ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

Promoting racial/ethnic diversity within the physician workforce is a national priority. However, the extent of racial/ethnic discrimination reported by physicians from diverse backgrounds in today’s health-care workplace is unknown.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the prevalence of physician experiences of perceived racial/ethnic discrimination at work and to explore physician views about race and discussions regarding race/ethnicity in the workplace.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, national survey conducted in 2006–2007.

PARTICIPANTS

Practicing physicians (total n = 529) from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds in the United States.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

We examined physicians’ experience of racial/ethnic discrimination over their career course, their experience of discrimination in their current work setting, and their views about race/ethnicity and discrimination at work. The proportion of physicians who reported that they had experienced racial/ethnic discrimination “sometimes, often, or very often” during their medical career was substantial among non-majority physicians (71% of black physicians, 45% of Asian physicians, 63% of “other” race physicians, and 27% of Hispanic/Latino(a) physicians, compared with 7% of white physicians, all p < 0.05). Similarly, the proportion of non-majority physicians who reported that they experienced discrimination in their current work setting was substantial (59% of black, 39% of Asian, 35% of “other” race, 24% of Hispanic/Latino(a) physicians, and 21% of white physicians). Physician views about the role of race/ethnicity at work varied significantly by respondent race/ethnicity.

CONCLUSIONS

Many non-majority physicians report experiencing racial/ethnic discrimination in the workplace. Opportunities exist for health-care organizations and diverse physicians to work together to improve the climate of perceived discrimination where they work.

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Acknowledgments

Conception and design (MNS, EHB); data acquisition (MNS, NP, MW, CB); data analysis and interpretation (NP, MMD, MNS, EHB); manuscript drafting (MNS); manuscript revisions (MNS, NP, MW, MMD, CB, EHB, BJ, HMK). MNS had full access to all of the data in the study and takes full responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Thank you to Emily Bucholz for her assistance in the data collection phase of this project for which she was reimbursed as a research assistant. EHB is supported by the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation Investigator Award (grant no. 02–102). MNS was supported, in part, by a grant through the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation. The funders did not contribute to the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

None of the authors have any conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Marcella Nunez-Smith MD, MHS & Harlan M. Krumholz MD, SM

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Marcella Nunez-Smith MD, MHS & Harlan M. Krumholz MD, SM

  3. Department of Population, Family and International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Nanlesta Pilgrim MPH

  4. American Medical Association Institute of Ethics, Chicago, IL, USA

    Matthew Wynia MD

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Chicago School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Matthew Wynia MD

  6. Division of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA

    Mayur M. Desai PhD, MPH & Beth A. Jones PhD, MPH

  7. National Medical Association, Washington, DC, USA

    Cedric Bright MD

  8. Department of Internal Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine and Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Cedric Bright MD

  9. Division of Health Policy and Administration, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA

    Elizabeth H. Bradley PhD

Authors
  1. Marcella Nunez-Smith MD, MHS
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  2. Nanlesta Pilgrim MPH
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  3. Matthew Wynia MD
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  4. Mayur M. Desai PhD, MPH
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  5. Beth A. Jones PhD, MPH
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  7. Harlan M. Krumholz MD, SM
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Correspondence to Marcella Nunez-Smith MD, MHS.

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Nunez-Smith, M., Pilgrim, N., Wynia, M. et al. Race/Ethnicity and Workplace Discrimination: Results of a National Survey of Physicians. J GEN INTERN MED 24, 1198–1204 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-009-1103-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-009-1103-9

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