Advancing Health Equity

00:06 So how, can, and will health professionals advance health equity and ultimately improve health outcomes for individuals, families, communities, and populations? And not only nationally, but how can we do this globally? First thing I mentioned this early on is you have to be aware of your biases, then you have to be comfortable with being human.

00:27 So admitting it.

00:28 Like I said, I'm Angela, and I have biases.

00:32 And so knowing that, and when I recognize those biases, and we're gonna talk about the conscious and unconscious bias, right? And that there are ways to move those biases from an unconscious space to a conscious space.

00:44 And that's when we're able to manage how we let them show up or not.

00:48 So that's one thing, self-awareness is key, and being honest with yourself.

00:53 Integrity is key consistency.

00:56 And when we mess up, even given ourselves grace, because you will mess up as long as you're breathing, you will mess up, and that's okay.

01:03 Don't assign your mess ups to a part of your character.

01:08 And then time and effort.

01:09 A lot of times people don't do this, because it takes a lot of time to try to transform yourself.

01:16 Like I know I've been a certain way my entire life.

01:19 And so now things have evolved to a point where I need to evolve with those things.

01:25 Focusing on the fact that every human deserves the right to live peacefully in this world.

01:30 And then bias management, management trainings.

01:34 There are several of them.

01:35 Some that you don't even have to pay for.

01:37 You can watch webinars, podcasts, different things.

01:40 But if you're truly serious about this transformation, you do need to seek out resources.

01:46 Then allegiance to unconscious and consistent application of that humanitarian ethos. We have to do that.

01:53 When we think about as from a nursing standpoint, the nursing code of ethics and from a medical standpoint, Hippocratic Oath. And even though I'm not a physician, I like anything that helps me to focus on being a good humanitarian and focusing on doing no harm to a human being.

02:12 Because again, we think about being vulnerable and thinking about maintaining dignity, then that's why whatever tools I can gather, and I encourage you to do the same.

02:22 And then you have to be an advocate.

02:23 So lots of times, we see things happening not only in the world, but in healthcare spaces, and we don't see anything.

02:31 Usually that's because we're intimidated.

02:33 You know, those power structures and hierarchies that are set up that and especially when we're new into any space, or if you're uncomfortable in that space.

02:42 So safety is a big piece of this, especially psychological safety.

02:47 When we don't feel that then we are intimidated by speaking up.

02:51 But from a healthcare perspective, you have to, have to be able to advocate for patients.

02:58 And when we talk about that, it doesn't mean that if it's not a part of your personality to go and confront, remember, not the person confront the situation, then you can go to someone else and say what you said but it needs to be addressed is the biggest part of it.

03:13 And then you can also be an activist.

03:16 and when I say activist, does that mean standing out, shout, and protest, and with signs? No. In terms of the healthcare professional, or any profession, how do you become an activist? What you do is get on these councils and change policies in a way that focuses on humanitarianism and justice for all.

03:36 Remember our Pledge of Allegiance. I like to use that. One nation.

03:40 When we talk about one nation in this nation, that nation includes several people from several different places.

03:46 So that one nation, we need to think about it from that perspective.

03:50 And then underguard, right.

03:52 So if we talk about, again, our Pledge of Allegiance, and it says, That my main key point of making all those statements is that justice for all, which also talks about or aligns with those humanitarian principles.