Haken Orli J, Gong Anna J, Ambinder Emily B, Myers Kelly S, Oluyemi Eniola T
Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Sheikh Zayed Tower, Suite 7203, 1800 Orleans St., Baltimore, MD 21287 USA.
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 N Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA.
Curr Radiol Rep. 2021;9(12):13. doi: 10.1007/s40134-021-00389-z. Epub 2021 Nov 12.
A racially and ethnically diverse healthcare workforce leads to increased access to care and better health outcomes. Radiology and specifically the patient-centered subspecialty of breast imaging have a growing mismatch between the demographics of the physician workforce and the patient population served. Identifying and addressing the barriers for diversity is imperative in order to decrease disparities in breast cancer morbidity and mortality and achieve excellence in patient care.
Three major barriers to promoting diversity and inclusion in the field of breast imaging and in the specialty of radiology more generally are unconscious bias, lack of mentorship for underrepresented minority (URM) students, and career development challenges facing women in radiology. We focus on these three issues and provide suggestions for addressing each of them.
Tackling unconscious bias through encouraging individual accountability and establishing implicit bias programs at the institutional level, supporting both formal and informal mentorship opportunities for URMs, and creating an environment to support women in leadership will bring us one step closer to fostering a diverse and inclusive breast imaging workforce and meeting the healthcare needs of the diverse US population.
种族和民族多元化的医疗保健劳动力可增加医疗服务的可及性并带来更好的健康结果。放射学，尤其是以患者为中心的乳腺影像亚专业，医生劳动力的人口统计学特征与所服务的患者群体之间的不匹配问题日益严重。识别并消除多元化的障碍对于减少乳腺癌发病率和死亡率的差异以及实现卓越的患者护理至关重要。
在乳腺影像领域以及更广泛的放射学专业中，促进多元化和包容性存在三大主要障碍，即无意识偏见、对代表性不足的少数族裔（URM）学生缺乏指导以及放射学领域女性面临的职业发展挑战。我们聚焦于这三个问题并针对每个问题提供解决建议。
通过鼓励个人问责制并在机构层面建立隐性偏见项目来应对无意识偏见，为URM提供正式和非正式的指导机会，并营造支持女性担任领导职务的环境，将使我们更接近培养多元化和包容性的乳腺影像劳动力，并满足美国多样化人群的医疗保健需求。
