Citation

Williams JC, Rohrbaugh R. Acad. Med. 2019; 94(8): 1084-1088.

Affiliation

J.C. Williams is child and adolescent psychiatry fellow, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. R. Rohrbaugh is deputy chair for education and career development and residency program director, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Association of American Medical Colleges, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/ACM.0000000000002610

PMID

30681449

Abstract

By describing an instance of racial violence by a patient against a resident physician, the authors hope to stimulate further discussion by addressing three specific questions about managing racist patients: (1) How should the resident (or any level of trainee) respond to the immediate situation?, (2) How should the unit respond to the event as a community?, and (3) How should the institution (hospital and/or academic institution) respond to the event? The authors argue that responses to such incidents should acknowledge the history of structural racism in U.S. society and in medicine. The authors recommend an approach that names the racism directly while addressing the safety of the patient and the providers in the moment, supports those affected in the aftermath, and considers appropriate consequences for the perpetrators of violence.

Language: en