Ok, I think we all know where I’m going with this one. As everyone can see from my profile pics; I am a young, female doctor…of color. Brown to be exact. Throughout my training, myself and other female doctors of color have exchanged stories of patients and other staff not realizing we were a physician or making inappropriate remarks about it.
Recently, some of my colleagues candidly shared similar, typical stories of what they continue to experience, which is what inspired me to discuss this topic on my blog. Try to control the dismissive head shakes as you read:
“The other day a vendor came into the lab, and walked right past me, and went into supervisors' office. My hematology supervisor pointed out the woman in the lab coat and scrub standing patiently behind him and said, "Have you met Dr. ---? She's our new department head."
“Yesterday I walked into a patients room and said "Hello I am doctor ---", He then asked "are you a doctor?", I responded "I am DOCTOR ---, How can I help you?"
“I love the initial look when you walk in the room and how much they LOVE LOVE LOVE you when you walk out:)!”
When I took a job in industry, my boss started to notice that the immediate response to the intro was "is this your new admin?"...when I was an intern @ Grady, a drunk white dude demanded to talk to the charge nurse "someone who knows more than YOU!!!"
“ Would go to offices with one of our device reps to do meet and greets, me in a suit, they're in their scrubs...and the docs walk right by me to shake the rep's hands. Then the rep has to say..."Have you met Dr. ---?"
“Last yr I had a white male drug rep ask if I was a PA, I nearly lost it he never approached me again! This would never happen to a white MD, then when started at new job had black and Hispanic clerks and maintenance worker ask if I was a new clerk, and I have an MD on my badge.”
“When I accompany other physicians to meetings I am consistently asked, are your Dr. So and So's ARNP? Despite the fact my name is all over my scrub top. When I enter a patients room in the SNF some pts assume I'm the CNA and ask me to change their brief, give them the bed pan, fill their water cup even after I have introduced myself "Hi I'm Dr.---, I will be your physician while you are here"!
Personally, I have never had any preconceived notions of how a doctor should look, act, or speak. My mother was one of the first African-American females to graduate from her medical school. And since I was raised with her influence and presence, it was similar to how my kids view presidents. They have only known Barack Obama as president. Therefore, they have no preconceived notions of what a commander-in-chief should look like.
Thus, the clearly racially charged experiences that I have gone through have been very hurtful because I naively never expected it. For example, when I was in training at the Mayo Clinic, myself and the two other young black dermatologists in our program, literally had at least one patient daily express surprise when we walked in the room and then ask where we went to medical school. Thankfully, two of us could respond---“Harvard.” That usually abruptly ended the line of questioning. Except for the one time, when I said “Harvard” and the patient responded, “Well my niece is having trouble getting into medical school and she’s really smart…I bet being Black helped your application.” I guess black people can only get into medical schools like Harvard through Affirmative Action. One of the other docs actually had a patient not believe he was a doctor, call the 'higher-ups', and demand to see his diploma.
One of the more hurtful incidents was when, the nurse (wearing maroon scrubs) roomed the patient, I walked into the room (wearing the mandatory Mayo business attire), introduced myself as “DOCTOR Singh” and then spent the next 30 minutes, taking a detailed history, examining the patient, PERFORMING A BIOPSY!!, and discussing my impression. When I left the room, the man turned to the nurse and asked, “When is the doctor coming in?” No words…
I have no idea what patients are expecting to see when they book an appointment with a “Dr. Meena Singh”. However, I can safely assume that physicians who look anything like LOST characters “Jack” or his dad “Christian Shephard” cannot relate to any of the above experiences.
Thankfully, shows like Grey’s Anatomy are casting more female physician roles with black actors. And of course, there is now Disney's Doc McStuffins which highlights a little black girl playing doctor and her actual black doctor mom. Hopefully, with more Hollywood influence and as the number of young, black female physicians continues to increase, the stereotypical portrait of a patriarchal, white male physician fades. After all, the Surgeon General of these United States is Dr. Regina Benjamin. I sincerely hope that she is no longer being confused with anything but the Surgeon General.
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