Resident Reflection
Why We Need More Black Male Physicians
Victor Redmon, MD - MCW Med-Peds resident
Dr. Redmon shares some
of his experiences as both a medical student and a resident physician, followed
by his reflections regarding the encounters…
My name is Victor Redmon. I was born and raised in Florida – and although I was well-traveled, I had never lived outside of the state until I came to MCW for medical school in 2013. I stayed here for internal medicine-pediatrics (Med-Peds) residency, for which I am now in my fourth and final year. I will be serving as chief resident of MCW’s Med-Peds program for the academic year of 2021-22.
June 2016 – A Black Patient and His Family
I am at the end of my third year in medical school and one week into my acting internship in the VA ICU. The ICU fellow receives a call to transfer a patient from the acute care floor to the ICU due to concerns for sepsis in a cancer patient. As the “intern” on the team, I eagerly accept the responsibility of taking the admission. I do a brief chart review and go to meet the patient and to gather more history. He is a Black male veteran, early 50s, frail and cachectic (characterized by physical wasting with loss of weight and muscle mass due to disease).
I introduce myself to him. “Hello, I am Victor Redmon and I will be part of the ICU team caring for you downstairs.” He looks me up and down.
He responds, “You mean I’ll actually have a Black doctor taking care of me? Well that’s all right,” he says with a smile.
I meet various members of his family over the ensuing weeks, most of whom shared the pride and adoration that they had a Black male caring for their loved one. I continue to take care of this patient for the remainder of the month. He had a long and complicated ICU course, as he was dying and at the end stage of his cancer course.
We conduct several family meetings to discuss goals of care and code status. The ICU attendings and fellows did an excellent job facilitating the meetings and the family felt well informed. I was called to his bedside after one of these meetings. “I was told you had some questions for me,” I said as I entered the room. “Hi! We just wanted your medical opinion on what we discussed during the family meeting. What do you think we should do?”
Being a medical student at the time, I was completely caught off guard with such a heavy question. I responded with the same answers my attending and fellow provided earlier.
The family says, “Okay, thank you, doctor. We just wanted to hear it from you because you are one of us.” The patient passed away on my last day of the rotation.
April 2020 – A Black Hospital Employee and His Words
I am now a third-year resident serving as a senior resident for one of the inpatient pediatric teams. Like most days in the hospital, it has been very busy with admissions and duties on the medical floor. I had also not eaten breakfast or lunch and was starving by midday. I informed my interns that I was headed to the cafeteria for lunch and would be back soon. I head to the elevator and notice an environmental services worker waiting as well. He was a Black man, likely early to mid-20s. The elevator arrives and I gesture for the worker to get on first, since he had equipment to haul around. He says, “Thank you, doc” and gets on the elevator.
I notice him staring at me and decide to make some small talk. I ask, “So how is the day going for you so far?”
He responds, “Not too bad, just another day. Are they treating you well here?”
I respond, “My work is busy, but all things considered I am very happy here.”
He says, “Good, I am glad to hear it. Do you know how rare it is to see a Black male doctor?” The elevator dings and the worker says to me as he exits, “I’ll see you around, doc. Keep up the good work. I am proud of you, I really am.”
I respond, “Thank you, brother. I’ll keep doing the best I can.” The elevator doors close. I am alone.
July 2020 – A Reflection on What Needs to Change
I have had numerous interactions similar to what I’ve described above, but these two encounters I remember very vividly. As a medical student, I viewed these interactions as a source of pride and empowerment. My Black patients truly trusted me and related to me in a different way than they could with my non-Black colleagues. I have come to recognize the position I am in. No longer am I just any medical student and no longer am I just another resident or trainee. I represent a source of pride and encouragement for the Black community. Truly, this is humbling. However, as I matriculate through my training, I ask myself more and more, “How and why?” Although I still feel a sense of pride and encouragement, I also have feelings of disappointment, sorrow and isolation.
Through my experiences in training, I have become increasingly aware of the impact of underrepresented in medicine (URM) physicians when taking care of their representative patient population. Of course, this is not a new concept. Many medical schools and graduate medical education programs, including MCW and Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals (MCWAH), have initiatives and policies in place that are centered around diversity. Yet, I believe that largely there has been little to no progress.
There have been many published studies that reflect the lack of progress with diversifying the racial-ethnic population of the medical schools and academic medical centers since the 1990s. Similarly, there are well-published studies illustrating the positive impact URM physicians can have with both the underserved population and their representative population. URM physicians play a pivotal role in providing care where it is needed the most, which has been well documented and proven in several landmark studies. I believe there is a general intent to diversify our medical student and GME population in order to be more representative of the population we are serving. Yet, I consistently see that diversity takes a clear back seat to academic achievement, which is defined by grades and standardized test scores.
My sentiments are not universal. There are many nonminority physicians who work extremely hard to provide excellent care to minority populations and underserved areas. There are even more people who work tirelessly on diversity and do not view diversity as an “extra” – but rather as “necessary.” I applaud and congratulate these people. I am blessed that I have been surrounded by individuals, many of whom are my colleagues and close friends, who truly feel that this is a critical area in medicine we need to improve upon.
I chose this topic to provide clarity and shed light on how URM physicians may feel from day to day. Of course, I am not the sole voice for URM physicians – just a part of it – but I am not alone in my thoughts and experiences. I do not have a solution to the diversity dilemma, nor am I trying to give one. This is part of a larger socioeconomic discussion, which I believe traces back to our primary education system. As Americans, we are at a truly unique and critical point in our history. We are in the middle of a global pandemic that has caused a significant economic and social strain on our society. Our society as whole is in the middle of political strife with the Presidential election looming. We are in a unique era of social justice and potential social reform. I must say that I am worried about how racial relations may change as a result of what is currently happening in our country. I am proud of the principles that my parents have taught and instilled in me. I am proud to be a Black American.
I am proud to be a husband and father. I am proud of, and grateful for, the training I have received and the relationships I have built here at MCW and MCWAH. I am hopeful for the future.
Victor Redmon, MD is a fourth-year resident in the MCW combined medicine and pediatrics residency program. This essay was originally published on 8/3/2020 as part of an MCW “Monday Morning Coffee.”
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