Category: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
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The Best Resolutions for Healthcare Students in 2025
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Welcome, future clinicians and caregivers, to 2025! While it may seem old-fashioned, setting resolutions is more than just making a list to forget by the end of January. It’s about sculpting your path to becoming the best version of yourself, both personally and professionally, while setting the stage for a…
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Dispelling Disability Myths: Helpful Insights for Aspiring Healthcare Professionals
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According to the CDC, approximately one in four US adults will experience a disability at some point in their lives. Despite how common disability is, people with disabilities face ongoing misconceptions and biases that contribute to existing disparities in healthcare access and quality. It’s crucial to address and dispel these…
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Social Determinants of Health: Health Care Access and Quality
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“I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems if I am to care adequately for the sick.” Dr. Louis Lasagna, 1964 We all want…
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Climate Change and Human Health: What You Need to Know
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Climate change poses a significant and multifaceted threat to human health, impacting various aspects of well-being across the globe. As temperatures rise, extreme weather events become more frequent, and ecosystems undergo profound changes, the health implications become increasingly apparent. From respiratory diseases aggravated by air pollution to heat-related illnesses and…
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Social Determinants of Health: Education Access and Quality
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When we talk about staying healthy, we often think about eating well, exercising, and getting enough sleep. But did you know that our level of education also significantly affects our health? Let’s explore how education affects our lives and how it relates to the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). Understanding the…
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How Important Are Our Neighborhoods and Built Environments in Shaping Our Health?
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With nearly 66% of Americans owning a home, many of us take where we live for granted, choosing our homes based on what’s available in a given area and what we can afford to rent, buy, or build. Yet, when considering the broader aspects of community health and well-being, the significance…
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Black Health Inequity: A Cry for Equity and Justice for All
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In a guest blog post, Dr. Itunu Johnson-Sogbetun addresses the everyday reality of health inequity for Black communities worldwide, as well as her pioneering work in creating HEAL, Health Equity and Advocacy Learning courses, developed to confront health disparities head-on and guide us to equitable access to healthcare for all.…
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What Are the Social Determinants of Health and Why Are They Important?
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In today’s Osmosis by Elsevier blog, we’re discussing the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), which helps us recognize and reduce inequalities, promote equity, and enhance overall well-being for us all. Introduction The family we’re born into, the neighborhoods we grow up in, the places we work, and where we eventually…
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What Is Intersectional Healthcare and Why Is It Important?
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Today we’re discussing the concept of intersectionality and how the intricate interplay of diverse identities impacts an individual’s experiences, and the need for clinicians and caregivers to recognize and acknowledge each patient’s identity to provide the best possible healthcare outcome.
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10 Ways to Create a Welcoming Environment for LGBTQIA+ Patients and Staff
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Find out how to create safe spaces, promote equity, and foster belonging for your LGBTQIA+ patients and staff with these simple and effective tips ranging from revising forms and updating signage to collaborating with local organizations and more in today’s Osmosis blog.The LGBTQIA+ community has endured a variety of forms…
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Treating Neurodivergent Patients: A helpful checklist
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When it comes to working with patients who have neurodivergent brains, the key lies in conscious collaboration to achieve the desired outcome. In today’s Osmosis blog, Stephanie Viggiano, Digital Communications Manager with Elsevier, offers valuable strategies for effective collaboration in treating neurodivergent patients, drawing from her personal experience. Providing personalized…
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How to Use Trauma-Informed Care in Treating Sexual Assault Victims
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In today’s Osmosis blog, we’re discussing trauma-informed care – what it is, how to apply it, and why it should be central to how healthcare professionals interact with and manage care for sexual assault survivors and other patients who have experienced trauma. For millions of people, experiencing trauma leads to…
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How to Provide Culturally Responsive Care to Gender-Diverse Communities
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Today’s Osmosis blog offers helpful tips and guidance on how doctors, nurses, and other caregivers can best provide culturally responsive care to patients across the gender identity spectrum. Adapted from the Hippocratic oath, “first, do no harm” is a phrase that’s well-known among both medical students and physicians. One of…
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17 Women to Inspire You During Women in Medicine Month
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Let’s celebrate the innovative movers and shakers making a difference in healthcare during Women in Medicine Month by highlighting these seventeen amazing women making their mark on the industry. For centuries, women have been making strides toward social progress while changing the face of healthcare. Today, they’re nearly 80% of the world’s healthcare professionals,…
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![Women in Healthcare in 2022: Breaking Down the Numbers [Infographic]](https://www.osmosis.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/women-in-healthcare-in-2022-breaking-down-the-numbers-infographic.webp?w=1024)
Women in Healthcare in 2022: Breaking Down the Numbers [Infographic]
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Women have been actively involved in healthcare for centuries, nursing their families and communities through every type of illness imaginable. We’ve taken a look at the latest statistics about women in healthcare to discover where women are excelling, where they’re underrepresented, and some key areas for growth and change during Women…
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The Past, Present, and Bright Future of Women in Healthcare
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Women now comprise nearly 70% of all healthcare professionals globally, 88% of all nurses, and just over 50% of medical students in the United States, but there are still a number of challenges to overcome. Join us for Women in Medicine Month this September to celebrate the determined women who have paved…
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Words Matter: The Power of Inclusive Language in Medicine
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As healthcare professionals, you will be called on to continue learning and growing for the duration of your career. Yes, you’ll know more as a seasoned worker than someone fresh out of school. However, you will also build up automatic responses and—yes, it happens even to the best of us—blind…
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Be Prepared for the Future of Nursing: Social Determinants of Health and Health Equity
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What does the future of nursing look like? And how can nurses carve their own path while serving others? To answer these questions, The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine launched their report The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity (2021). This new report, which…
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A Discussion Around LGBTQ+ health
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When the topic of specific medical care for LGBTQ+ patients comes up, people often ask “Why?”. Why is there a need for this specification? Why are there special clinics for LGBTQ+ people in Tel Aviv, New York, and Berlin? These are all cities with a very high population of people…
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What COVID-19 Can Teach Us About Treating Patients With Disabilities
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Today is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. This year the theme is “Building Back Better: Toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World”. To honor the theme this year, Osmosis Medical Education Fellow Casey Gilman partners with Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Moreman to discuss how COVID-19 has shed light…
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Breaking Barriers: Systemic Racism in Medical School
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In the United States, minorities must often approach the world with a set of unspoken rules and regulations. They often feel unspoken pressures to challenge stereotypes and “break barriers.” On today’s blog, Osmosis Medical Educational Fellow Dianne Omire-Mayor shares with us the barriers that need to be broken for black…
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Make Yourself Comfortable: How to Be Aware of Your Implicit Biases
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“I want to help people” is a common response on a medical school application, but sometimes we experience trepidation when working within a new environment or group—especially when we lack understanding of these groups. Read about how one medical student ventured outside of her comfort zone and overcame her biases…
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What “Inclusive Medicine” Means to Me
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Being a doctor who follows inclusive medicine is not only about treating symptoms and prescribing medication or performing surgery. Being a doctor is about being passionate about humanity and helping others achieve a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. In today’s blog, OMEF Inés Marquina meditates on the…
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“Say My Name”: A Medical Student’s Experience with Microaggressions
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By sharing these stories, we’re hoping to build more caring, empathetic clinicians who understand the challenges faced by minorities in the US and around the world, while also providing a platform to celebrate their successes and achievements. Today, Antoinette Leonard-Jean Charles, a third-year medical student at American University of Integrated Sciences, shares…
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Accommodating Individuals with Dual Sensory Loss of both Vision and Hearing: Deafblindness
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In honor of Helen Keller Deafblind Awareness Week, we’re sharing advice for clinicians on how to best interact with and care for their patients who have dual sensory loss of vision and hearing. The clinical environment during the COVID-19 pandemic is so frenetic that health professionals can easily fall into…
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The Approach Formula: Accommodating Patients with Disabilities on the Spot
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In response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, an ideal on-the-spot approach in accommodating patients with disabilities is being shared. All-inclusive communications strategies can be used right now when interacting with a person, no matter the background nor (dis)ability. In this article, Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Moreman discusses the Approach Formula and…
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Celebrating Women in Medicine Month
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It’s Women in Medicine Month, a time to celebrate the incredible, inspiring work performed by women working in the health professions around the world. There are so many innovative and inspiring women working in the medical field, and it hasn’t been an easy road. Shout-out to all the women who…
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Socio-cultural Awareness: 5 Common Cultural Treatment Practices
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As a medical student who studied anthropology, it’s easy for me to apply my socio-cultural lens to the practice of medicine. Throughout my first year of clinical medicine, I have run across a number of examples of alternative practices and cultural healing. Although we are being trained in Western medicine,…
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Period Poverty: The Belittling of a Basic Need
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Millions of people around the world lack adequate access to hygienic menstrual products—a stark reality that the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) is working tirelessly to change. In today’s guest post on the Osmosis blog, Alexandra A. Alvarez, National Premedical President of AMWA, explores the topic of period poverty and…