Is Your Doctor White? A Spoken Word Poem Addressing Medical School Admissions and How They Affect the Physician Population

Artist's Statement

Grace Acosta

When you go to the doctor, do you feel well cared for?  Does your physician take the time to address your concerns and do you feel that they are doing everything in their power to give you the best possible outcome?  Obviously, we would all like to answer yes to these questions.  However, the lack of diversity in the physician population poses certain challenges in receiving quality healthcare to underserved minority populations.  How can the physician population be so homologous when the medical school population keeps diversifying.  In my research, I sought to discover how the trends in medical school admissions affect the demographics of the working physician population and the healthcare treatment of marginalized and underserved populations.  I discovered that almost half of the matriculated medical students in 2023 were White, despite the growing number of minority medical students.  While over 40% of medical students in 2023 are white, only 8% are Black, 6% are Hispanic, and only 0.08% are Pacific Islander.  This lack of diversity in the physician population stems from a lack of resources available to most members of underserved or minority communities. And because they are less likely to have the resources to get into medical school, the physician population remains mostly White.  As a result, minority and underserved populations receive poorer healthcare and have poor health outcomes, and underrepresented minority (URM) physicians burn out faster caring for a great number of people with a miniscule workforce. 

I decided to present my project to you in the form of spoken-word poetry because I feel that a story is always best told orally.  While there is plenty of factual research in my project, it is also a story.  It is my story, as a Hispanic, female minority patient and as a Hispanic, woman pre-med student.  I feel that I will one day play both sides of this issue, and I have so much passion for this issue that I felt I couldn't share it with you any other way than to say it out loud.  I hope in doing so, you will hear my frustration and passion and know that this is an issue that demands change. I've also provided a transcript of the poem, so you can see the purposeful font and stylistic grammar choices that I've made (I apologize for all the different sizes!  I had to zoom in and out depending on how long the section was).  It is my hope that the transcript will clarify any confusion in the way I speak as you listen to my story.

 After completing my research and reflecting on my own feelings, I believe that the physician population must be diversified now if we are to navigate the projected physician shortage in 2030.  Underserved and minority populations are already suffering their own physician shortage, and they will suffer the most if we cannot increase and diversify the physician population.  To do so, we must make the resources necessary for getting into medical school available to all prospective medical students - not just to the wealthy and White.