J Natl Med Assoc
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Multicenter Study
Challenges in Recruiting, Retaining and Promoting Racially and Ethnically Diverse Faculty.
Despite individual and institutional awareness of the inequity in retention, promotion and leadership of racially and ethnically underrepresented minority faculty in academic medicine, the number of such faculty remains unacceptably low. The authors explored challenges to the recruitment, retention and promotion of underrepresented faculty among a sample of leaders at academic medical centers. ⋯ Despite a generally positive climate, the lack of a critical mass remains a barrier to recruitment of racially and ethnically underrepresented faculty in medicine. Programs and resources committed to retention and promotion of minority faculty and institutional leadership are critical to building a diverse faculty.
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Multicenter Study
Ethnic Manifestations of Gene Polymorphisms of Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) in Adolescents of Western Kazakhstan Region.
The objective of the article is studying the connection of VDR gene polymorphisms with bone tissue mineral density and biochemical marker of 25-PO vitamin D in adolescents of both ethnic groups, living in Western Kazakhstan Region. ⋯ Disorders of bone mineralization and metabolism depend on ethnic affiliation and presence of defined polymorphic genotypes of VDR gene molecular markers. Genotype Tt is a normal variant of gene polymorphism and is characterized by significantly less 25-PO vitamin D content in adolescents of Kazakh ethnic group, in comparison with their age mates of Slavonic ethnic group.
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Structural inequalities exist within healthcare. Racial disparities in hospital security standby requests (SSRs) have not been previously explored. We speculated hospital SSRs varied based upon race with black patients and their visitors negatively impacted. ⋯ This study adds to the medical errors and healthcare disparities literature by being the first to describe racial disparities in SSRs for Black patients and their visitors. It also introduces the concept of "security intervention errors in healthcare environments." New metrics and continuous quality improvement initiatives are needed to understand and eliminate racial/ethnic based disparities in SSRs.
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Multicenter Study
Lessons Learned Recruiting Minority Participants for Research in Urban Community Health Centers.
To help understand and mitigate health disparities, it is important to conduct research with underserved and underrepresented minority populations under real world settings. There is a gap in the literature detailing real-time research staff experience, particularly in their own words, while conducting in-person patient recruitment in urban community health centers. This paper describes challenges faced at the clinic, staff, and patient levels, our lessons learned, and strategies implemented by research staff while recruiting predominantly low-income African-American women for an interviewer-administered survey study in four urban Federally Qualified Health Centers in New Jersey. ⋯ Patient level barriers included: disinterested patients, patient mistrust and concerns over confidentiality, no-shows or lack of patient time, and language barrier. We describe strategies used to overcome these barriers and provide recommendations for in-person recruitment of underserved populations into research studies. To help mitigate health disparities, disseminating recruiters' experiences, challenges, and effective strategies used will allow other researchers to build upon these experience in order to increase recruitment success of underserved and underrepresented minority populations into research studies.
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Nigeria is one of the ten countries with the highest tuberculosis (TB) burden globally and is experiencing an increasing incidence of drug resistance. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of mycobacterium tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance (DR-TB) among patients screened at the TB clinic of a tertiary institution in Lagos, South-West, Nigeria. ⋯ The burden of DR-TB may be higher than previously thought. Drug resistance testing should be made more available to detect cases and thus control the emerging problem.