March 2008
by Vicki Rackner MD
Wealth, power and schooling offer no guarantee of quality health care. No matter whom you are or where you get your medical care, two out of five American patients are under treated, over treated or wrongfully treated,” says Vicki Rackner MD and founder of Medical Bridges. “What few people realize is that being a noted leader or a woman or a person of color places you at higher risk of receiving sub-optimal care.”
Few think of leaders as a medically underserved group. “This counter-intuitive idea is easily understood,” says Rackner. “Leaders who demonstrate strength by hiding vulnerability are on the road to denying health concerns. Executives can be embarrassed to admit they don’t understand what the doctor is saying, and the doctor may make unfounded assumptions about what a successful, educated patient knows. Sometimes the extra effort invested in treating the VIP backfires.”
Dr. Rackner, of Seattle, Washington is a surgeon who left the operating room to help patients partner more effectively with their doctors. She is traveling to Greensboro, North Carolina, to deliver the keynote luncheon address, ‘Say YES to Health” for the Women’s Leadership Empowerment Conference sponsored by Diversity Woman Magazine that will be held on April 4 at the Grandover Resort & Conference Center. According to Rackner, “The patient advocacy skills and tools that these participants will leave with are as vital to business success as communication skills. Health is the foundation of professional success, and the culture of health that starts at the top is the foundation of a healthy business.”
Dr. Rackner says, “We need to break the conspiracy of silence about the elephant in the exam room—barriers to quality health care like race or gender or social status. All of these obstacles can be overcome, and we as individuals and a nation will benefit when it happens.”
Copyright © Vicki Rackner MD, 2008
Women Leaders at Higher Risk of Receiving Sub-Optimal Health Care