JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Blacks represent about 12% of the nation's population, but only 6% of the total medical school enrollment, 5% of medical school graduates, 5% of postgraduate trainees, 3% of physicians in practice, and 2% of medical school faculties. Addressing this underrepresentation of blacks in medicine not only is a matter of justice, equity, and national conscience but also has implications for the provision of quality physician care to this nation's minority and medically underserved populations. ⋯ Black physicians are also more likely to practice in communities whose residents lack adequate access to medical care. An approach to addressing the problem of underrepresentation is proposed, consisting of activities at the precollege, college, and medical school levels.
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Comparative Study
Access to medical care for black and white Americans. A matter of continuing concern.
A 1986 national survey of use of health services shows a significant deficit in access to health care among black compared with white Americans. This gap was experienced by all income levels of black Americans. In addition, the study points to significant underuse by blacks of needed medical care. Moreover, blacks compared with whites are less likely to be satisfied with the qualitative ways their physicians treat them when they are ill, more dissatisfied with the care they receive when hospitalized, and more likely to believe that the duration of their hospitalizations is too short.
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Letter Historical Article
Clash of symbols--the AMA stone in the Washington Monument: hippocratectomy or hippocratoplasty?