STUDY: DOCTOR SHORTAGE FOR BOOMING LATINO POPULATION IN CA, U.S.

By Suzanne Porter, Public News Service

Photo credit: chilombiano/morguefile.com

April 22, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)--Over the past 30 years, the Latino population in the United States has risen by 243 percent. But during that same period, according to a UCLA study of census data, the number of Latino doctors has decreased 22 percent.

The study found that the shortage is acute in California, with only 50 Latino doctors for every 100,000 Latino patients.



Study co-author Dr. Gloria Sanchez said communication is key to a strong doctor-patient relationship. She noted that it leads to better outcomes, especially with chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.



"If a doctor and a patient can't understand each other," she said, "I think that there can be very negative patient outcomes."



A 2009 analysis showed that patients who don't speak English well report understanding only half of what doctors tell them.



The UCLA study blamed the Latino physician shortage partly on the dismantling of affirmative action programs in California, and a decrease in anti-poverty programs over the past few decades. Sanchez said that led to a big drop in the number of Latinos going to college and becoming doctors.



"It really is a reflection of who gets into medical school, and it's typically not an ethnic minority," she said. "You have to be fairly affluent and/or be in good educational systems to get a secondary degree, like an M.D."



Sanchez suggested that in order to produce more doctors from disadvantaged populations, the United States should invest more money in programs that start early - bringing science education, tutoring, self-esteem and leadership programs to elementary schools in low-income neighborhoods.



The study in the Journal of Academic Medicine is online at journals.lww.com.