GUEST ESSAY: Rebuild trust in healthcare with more representation in the field

Editor's note: The Star will publish selected Common Application essays from this year's senior class every Thursday. This is the first in the series.

Justin Duncan

In 2019, data showed that 40 percent of healthcare workers are people of color, 16 percent being Black. This is changing, but not fast enough. Data also show that Black and Hispanic people show higher distrust in physicians. This is a result of the lack of representation within the health field. POC in healthcare is a topic so important to me because I understand how it feels to be discouraged from something because you don’t see people who look like you doing it. This is what propels me to enter the healthcare field, sending a message to kids just like me that it is possible.

The lack of representation within the healthcare field stems from a long history of being mistreated by the system. An example of this would be the infamous “Tuskegee Experiment,” an experiment where Black men were used as test subjects to see the effects of syphilis when left untreated on the human body. This was done without the consent of the subjects. Black people have a long history of being victims to testing. This is an issue that stems since the beginning of slavery. That’s over 400 years of mistreatment and abuse specifically from physicians, which was more than enough to leave damage and distrust between minorities and medical professionals. The question still remains, how do we fix this issue?

I often think about how to change the low statistics of minorities in the field. One of the main factors in my nursing journey is getting the chance to represent people who look just like me. People will not chase after a dream they don’t see themselves in, which is something I relate to. Being a minority and having a profession within this field with a certain “look” means that I have a chance to use the little platform I have to show others that it is possible. I’ve always been interested in nursing, but for a long time I never got involved because I didn’t see people like me doing it. Being Black and a male is a rarity in the medical field and even more rare in nursing. As I head down this path, this will always be my main motivation to keep pushing.

Another reason that compels me to work within the healthcare field is because until minorities are being seen and treated by people who look like them, the distrust will forever continue. As a minority, I’m often seen by people who don’t understand my body. It goes beyond any lecture or any textbook. It’s something that only someone else who looks like me would be able to understand. I often have these discussions with my cousin, who is a Registered Nurse. As a nurse, she sees the biases minority patients fall victim to in the hands of white physicians. Healthcare’s long history of using Black people as testing subjects created a misconception in the medical field thinking that Black people didn’t feel pain like White people did. This misconception would not have been as widely perpetrated had Black patients been in the care of Black physicians.

The need for POC in healthcare is one of utmost importance and is necessary in order to change racial biases within the system. The effects of lack of representation left me feeling like I wasn’t capable of accomplishing my goal, which is why it’s important for me to join the field, sending a message to the next kid who looks just like me that it is possible.

Justin Duncan is a senior in the Theatre Arts department.