Narrating Racism Deliberately: A Linguistic and Narrative Review of Literature on Health Care Workers and Racism

• In Event: Antiracism and Critical Race Theory

Abstract

We have enshrined racism, and silence about it, in US systems, including healthcare. Healthcare scholars narrate unequal patient access, healthcare worker (HCW) underrepresentation, and mistreatment, but these potentially influential scholarly narratives themselves have not been explored. We examine how the word racism is narratively and linguistically framed in these narratives. Of 836 articles using diversity-related terms, 37 used racism. Authors oriented readers in introductions with discourses including healthcare access inequity and evidence for HCW underrepresentation. Most authors concluded with statements of what “is,” but some emphasized what “could” or “should” be. Authors placed people, processes, and tools for change, among others, as subjects and objects in HCW racism. These analytic tools can help us uncover and resist racism in healthcare.

Authors

• Abigail W Konopasky, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

• Lara Varpio, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

• Candace Norton, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

• Nneka Sederstrom, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota

• Divya Ramani, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

• Patcho Santiago, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences