Women of Color in Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation The Race Across the Pond Initiative: Women of Color in the Healthcare System Series
probably referred to white skins as standards and did not consider skin color as a measurement bias factor. Additionally, in the three types of oximeters tested in this study (Nonin, Novametrix, Nellcor) the data confirm important bias between skin pigmentation, with bias ranging from 4 to 8% for dark-skinned subjects. Likewise, the COVID-19 pandemic has helped focus attention on hypoxia, one of the severity symptoms. Sjoding et al. released a study in 2020 alerting to the increased risk incurred by Black people and people of color with dark skin, in connection with the biases generated by these devices. Of course, the overexposure of racialized groups to COVID is multi-causal. However, it is urgent we question the use of some medical devices that have been identified as biased and potentially dangerous for RMGs and wonder if these devices have not contributed to the worsening of, and potentially the death from the disease among these communities. The oximeters, which tend to mask hypoxia of black people while it is a factor in the aggravation of the disease, is a blatant example.
4. RACISM, DISCRIMINATION, AND STEREOTYPES IN MEDICAL PRACTICES AND PATIENT CARE: THE MEDITERRANEAN SYNDROM Ranging from false beliefs, conscious and unconscious bias, limited intercultural skills, and sensitivity to diversity, racism, discrimination and stereotypes in medical practices and patient care are serious problems. The case of pain interpretation is best illustrated through the Mediterranean Syndrome, a set of racial stereotypes used by health care staff in the French medical field who consider that people with North African heritage tend to exaggerate their symptoms and pain. Today, the use of Mediterranean syndrome is broadened to also encompass sub-Saharan African patients.7 This false “syndrome” is in theory not officially taught (explicitly) in the medical and paramedical courses, but is rather transmitted during on the ground internships and professional experiences. It is largely through practice in the professional environment that health workers acquire these social and racial representations. Social representation can be defined as "a form of knowledge, socially developed and shared, having a practical aim and contributing to the construction of a reality common to a social whole." (Jodelet, D. 1989). Thus, health professionals’ common values inherent to care, along with more or less grounded beliefs, as well as their own mental projections, impact their professional practices. The 7
Vega, A. (2012). “Soignants, SOIGNÉS: Pour une approche anthropologique Des soins infirmiers.” De Boeck.
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