Running head: Literature Review Rodriguez 1

American Health Care System vs. Black Women

Daniela Rodriguez

California State University Channel Islands

Hlth 499

Professor Winans

March 1st, 2021

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The recent events of the world are opening the eyes of many people who are now faced

with thoughts that had never crossed their mind before based on the topic of racism and what it

means. Light has been shed and disparities and differences continue to be uncovered. There is a

world that was built on the back of maintaining oppression and instability within communities

that isn’t and will never be justifiable. Although, there has been many positives to come from the

shadows of the heavy information being found. People are becoming more educated, aware, and

welcoming . There is a wave of self awareness that is coming to shed light on the issues that have

been systemically imposed but will be on the wave of recovery and inclusivity.

The focus of this literature review is on racism in American healthcare. More specifically,

on Black women receiving care. The idea for this cam after seeing so many disparity statistics as

well as having heard many testaments from Black women in America especially in the past year

while many people have spoken up about what they have faced in light of systemic racism. The

five peer reviewed journals will best describe the treatment as well as mistreatment black women

have faced through examples. These journals cover from specific and more prevalent diseases in

the community to Covid-19 effects to past and present racial issues in the system.

The best way to find out what something isn’t is to find out what it is. In the case of the

topic and focus, there needs to be a deeper understanding of the health care system and it’s

demographic as it has proven to be very important in light of the issues. The journal,

“Recognizing and Reacting to Microaggressions in Medicine and Surgery” states that it is a

known fact that there isn’t as much representation for minorities in the medical world as there is

people in more represented communities. This disparity and low representation is even more

magnified when it is also stated that women are less likely to practice medicine. (Torres, Salles,
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& Cochran, 2019) This puts minority women at an all time low for representation. In order to be

treated adequately, it’s good to have someone who can understand you well or better than other

people. This is especially important for Black women which is one of the many reasons that

treatment for them is the way that is has been for so long. Although, this has all shown to be true,

the numbers have began to change.

Journal- "Millions of black people affected by racial bias in Health-care algorithms” is

one of most targeting journals in this review because it so simply puts some of the bias that they

face in easier terms as well as very obvious proof and demonstration. This article focuses on how

racial bias takes place in many situations and it also provides some possible solutions which is

great because after pointing out issues, we should always try to implant some solutions in order

to see the change we need. “When Obermeyer and his colleagues ran routine statistical checks on

data they received from a large hospital, they were surprised to find that people who self-

identified as black were generally assigned lower risk scores than equally sick white people

(Ledford, 2019) .” This is a sentence from the journal that very simply shows how black people

are generally not put on the same pedestal as white people unfortunately in some situations.

“We get double slammed!”: Healthcare experiences of perceived discrimination among

low-income African-American women” is the third journal focused on and it mainly explains

how Black women are generally facing more than one disparity outside of their health are the

most at risk in certain situations. “To design healthcare interventions that will result in equitable

care and health outcomes for low-income AA women, we began with an understanding of their

current healthcare-related experiences (Okoro, Hillman, & Cernasev, 2020).” This journal is a

study that is based on finding more fair and equitable care for black women who they
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acknowledge that they could improve their care for. This is also a great article that shows

awareness as well as is proactively working to correct issues in a system which were placed long

before we were where are today.

The fourth journal, “Performing Black womanhood: a qualitative study of stereotypes and

the healthcare encounter ” works on identifying the specific stereotypes that black women may

face generally as well as in the health care system.This article is great for people who are not so

familiar with this issue some information for them to learn and build their opinions upon and

then follow up with information form the rest of the journals in order to show other specific

issues and possible solutions to the issue. “In addition to physical health outcomes, Hudson and

colleagues have found that middle-class Blacks are at even greater risk than their lower SES

counterparts for mental health problems associated with exposure to racial discrimination (Sacks,

2017). ” This sentence was one in particular that was upsetting while reading and is one of the

main reasons why this journal was chosen. This gives a quick and easy understanding to how the

system has been working and disproportionately affecting communities for years.

Last journal, “ENOUGH: COVID-19, Structural Racism, Police Brutality, Plutocracy,

Climate Change—and Time for Health Justice, Democratic Governance, and an Equitable,

Sustainable Future” is a journal that covers several things that explain a lot of events happening

recently because within the last year, we have been faced with uncovering a lot of disparities

within several communities as well some system racism we have not been too aware about and

could be a new topic for so many of us. The next example is taken directly from the journal and

is quite lengthy but it’s a good idea to highlight here. “This past June, propelled by the massive
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protests over police brutality, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the intensification of economic

inequities disproportionately harming US communities of color and their health, 20 US cities and

counties and three states have declared or are in the process of declaring that racism is a public

health crisis.39,40 Major public health, epidemiological, and medical societies have, for the first

time ever, made similar declarations (Krieger, 2020) .” Although a tough read, the second and

following sentence gives a feeling of hope because feels like the issue is starting to be more

widely recognized which is in perfect time for a positive change.

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Citations:

Chae, D. H., Martz, C. D., Fuller-Rowell, T. E., Spears, E. C., Smith, T. T., Hunter, E. A., Lim, S.
S. (2019). Racial discrimination, disease activity, and organ damage: The black women’s
experiences living with lupus (bewell) study. American Journal of Epidemiology.
doi:10.1093/aje/kwz105

Krieger, N. (2020). ENOUGH: Covid-19, structural Racism, police Brutality, Plutocracy,

CLIMATE change—and time for health JUSTICE, democratic governance, and an
equitable, sustainable future. American Journal of Public Health. doi:10.2105/
ajph.2020.305886

Ledford, H. (2019). Millions of black people affected by racial bias in Health-care algorithms.
Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03228-6

Okoro, O. N., Hillman, L. A., & Cernasev, A. (2020). “We get DOUBLE slammed!”: Healthcare
experiences of perceived discrimination among low-income African-American women.
Women's Health, 174550652095334. doi:10.1177/1745506520953348

Sacks, T. K. (2017). Performing black womanhood: A qualitative study of stereotypes and the
healthcare encounter. Critical Public Health, 28(1).
doi:10.1080/09581596.2017.1307323

Torres, M. B., Salles, A., & Cochran, A. (2019). Recognizing and reacting to microaggressions in
medicine and surgery. JAMA Surgery, (S). doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2019.1648