CI4: How Can We Improve Trust?

Building trust within someone or something involves many components. Entities such as policy makers, employees, and children all have to work together in order to build trust. Racism is ultimately the root cause of this mistrust which led to the development of a model titled “Racism as a Root Cause” that was created by the American Academy of Pediatrics. This model (RRC) is an approach for pediatric healthcare specifically that serves to develop strategies, policies, and mechanisms to address the root causes of health disparities. The authors of this article state that there are four components that are critical to advancing population health, and these include: precise impacts for racially marginalized communities, system changes in regards to policies and environments, long-term sustainable impact, and reparations regarding historical injustices within these systems.

The author of the article also provides a list of ways that one can check if they are dealing with a population of individuals that experience racism, which I will discuss more in my last CI post. The 1934 establishment of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a prime example of how the white community was uplifted using the four components of the RRC approach. If the white community can be uplifted through these techniques, the same can apply for marginalized groups of people as well. Lastly, the author provides four ways that we, as a nation, can integrate the RRC into the field of pediatric health which I will also include in my last post. This approach targets racism at any level, and since we have the resources to address racism as a root cause at the childhood spectrum, we can prevent the increase of racial health disparities in America.

It is a known fact that people of color receive less and worse care compared to white Americans and according to an article I have read, African American men have it the worst. At age 45, their life expectancy is 3+ years less than that of non-Hispanic caucasian men. Notably, black patients are tended to more when they are seen by black doctors/health care providers. There seems to be an increase in communication and empathy on both ends when these groups of people are racially matched. In order to limit the amount of mistrust between health care providers and patients, we must improve communication, increase transparency, create welcoming communities, and attend to access barriers. It is recognized that this lack of trust can have positive and negative effects on the black community. On the positive side, it can empower one to fight for change, on the negative side, it can cause individuals to avoid the proper care they need. If we strengthen these vital relationships and get rid of the social and racial disparities within America, it can build trust and cause great benefits for our nation as a whole.