You might have heard of ideas and social movements such as social medicine, structural competency, Declaration of Alma Ata, primary health care, health equity, social and racial justice, structural racism… Are these variations on the same theme–the idea that physicians should promote health through both individual and social means stemmed from the work of Rudolf Virchow, John Ryle, H. Jack Geiger, Michael Marmot, Paul Farmer and many others.
Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center has developed and implemented a tool called Liberation in the Exam Room to promote racial justice and equity in healthcare. They emphasize that this tool is just a starting place for deeper discussion and understanding. They offer examples of questions to engage patients such as “Many of my patients experience racism in their healthcare. Are there any experiences you would like to share with me?” “Have there been any experiences that caused you to lose trust in the healthcare system?” It is about deconstructing the power language, changing the power relations between doctors and patients, about racial reconciliation and healing. Social medicine case studies that shed light on this issue can be powerful instruments for teaching and achieving inclusion and health equity.