How Can Equitable Access to Diagnostic Testing Be Increased?
More Programs and Publications Featuring Dr. Rodney Rohde
In this program:
What steps can be taken to improve equitable access to diagnostic testing? Medical laboratory scientist Dr. Rodney Rohde discusses steps that have been taken to bridge the gap and how efforts can continue toward equitable access for all patients.
Transcript
Deandre White:
So increasing the amount of professionals that we have to do this research and do these important jobs. Do you think that would actually enhance equitable access for diagnostic testing?
Dr. Rodney Rohde:
I do. I do. I mean the more people you get into it, and a great point here, Deandre, is that when you look at university programs whether it's associate degrees, bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, we also have a new doctorate in medical lab, clinical lab science, we need students that look like this country and so that focus is there. I'm working on several...I'm really proud of it. I'm working on several national workforce committees that are focusing on DEI initiatives looking at all sorts of people that should be in this field so that we can start understanding not only the piece of the professional that might understand the patient's experience but actually looking at the testing. Are there actual reasons to look and re-examine reference ranges around a particular disease, because we never studied it, for example, in Hispanic populations or African Americans or Asians or any slice of the ethnicity piece you will look at.
What was it mostly looked at in? Caucasians, right? If you look at our history across the world and if you're honest with that, that's where most of the data is typically from. We are getting way better at it, and we're working at it. But we can only improve that by acknowledging that we need to re-examine some of that type of data so that when we're taking care of our patients the data we're comparing it to, the references and the standards, and the conditions will best match that particular patient.
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