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Editorial SEPTEMBER 2006
Partnering to Achieve a Diverse and Healthy Geographic Region
Terence W. Starz, MD
Why is diversity
important to
the health care
of a geographic region and its citizens? Recently, the Alle-gheny County Medical Society
(ACMS), which has 3,500 physician members in western Pennsylvania, partnered with the Allegheny County Bar Association, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the University of Pittsburgh, and local businesses, insurers, and government to host a symposium entitled ÒDiversity in the Professions: Challenges and Solutions.Ó The purpose of this symposium was to advocate diversity in these professions and to stimulate awareness of the importance of diversity in enriching the areaÕs economic, social, cultural, and medical well-being.
A diverse population is an essential component of a vibrant, growing community. However, with this concept comes the challenge to health care providers to deliver appropriate care for individuals from different cultures and backgrounds who have unique perspectives on illness and its management. In addition, the character of the physician workforce is changing dramatically, with medical students achieving gender parity together with increasing ethnic diversity. These issues are complex because people are complex.
The elimination of health care disparities requires an increased participation by minorities in care delivery, disease manage-
ment, and medication utilization, as well as the establishment of trusting community partnerships. Developing an ethnically diverse pool of physicians and other providers helps to engage underrepresented populations in their health care delivery. Gender diversity is also crucial because of the great resources that female physicians can offer and their unique perspectives on womenÕs health care issues.
The ACMS's interest in effective health care delivery is encouraging
established physicians to focus on mentoring younger colleagues
at the student, resident, and beginning-practice levels. Much of
medical education is an apprenticeship, with students and graduates
learning the practice and the art of medicine from their teachers.
Mentors play a fundamental role in the development of physician
trainees by providing compassionate, medically informed patient
care. In regard to gender diversity in medicine, it is important
to note that physicians typically complete training and begin practice
when they are also starting their families. Female physicians,
in particular, encounter the difficult challenge of balancing career
and family responsibilities, and the profession must be more flexible
and responsive to their needs.
In these ways, the ACMS is
working to uphold its mission
to advocate for the best available patient care and to pro-
mote a professional environment for physicians to provide such care. By partnering with the community, the ACMS is helping to provide the collective energy to achieve the goal of making Pittsburgh a healthy and welcoming city that celebrates diversity. This model of interprofessional cooperation to address diversity is successfully fostering an understanding of different perspectives through groups representing more than 11,000 professionals in western Pennsylvania. A similar approach can be considered in other US cities as part of a strategy to replenish diminishing workforces and to strengthen the medical profession.
Terence W. Starz, MD
Editorial Advisory
Board Member
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