Read on Twitter
This morning, as a work break, I wanted to share some examples when people were allies and demonstrated upstandership.
1) During my intern year, a patient called me and another Asian MS4 "exotic and hot" during AM rounds. My Black male chief responded, "More importantly, they're both very intelligent. One is a doctor and the other one will be."
2) When I was medstud, a patient told me I looked very attractive, asked me my age, and said some other uncomfortable things during an interview for an inguinal hernia...I told my white male attending, he immediately asked, “what can I do to make this situation better for you?”
SN: I’m sharing this because often we focus on what isn’t being done and what isn’t happening. This isn’t to say that we don’t have a very long way to go, but we also have people who are trying to do the right thing.
Additionally, hopefully we can remind ourselves that being an ally or demonstrating upstandership can be as simple as a sentence or a question.
3) Patient: That is what uhhh **points at me** that person, maybe nurse, was telling me earlier.
Attending: That's what Dr. Han was telling you. Great!
Attending: That's what Dr. Han was telling you. Great!
4) Circulator to attending: I am educating **her** because that is my job. (Referring to the way I marked a patient in pre-op..even though I've seen my male colleagues mark patients the same way...)
White male attending: How? She didn't do anything wrong. That makes no sense...
White male attending: How? She didn't do anything wrong. That makes no sense...
Some people may ask where this is coming from...partly from reading a recent @HarvardBiz article about Sexual Harassment training - essentially, programs that empower individuals to be allies are more effective than the traditional "this is not acceptable" type training.
I believe this applies to all types of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training.
