Gender and racial bias are pervasive across all aspects of society, medicine notwithstanding. In this episode, Esther Choo MD, MPH (@choo_ek), a titan for the cause of gender and racial equity discusses: a rubric for deciding 'yes or no', single payer healthcare, why confining medical practice to the bedside can be an exercise in futility, sexism and racism in medicine, the wage gap, workforce vs. leadership demographics, managing overtly racist patients, and why the culture of medicine is ripe for sexual harassment.

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We discuss:

Esther’s first outward advocacy: responding to the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act [03:44];
How you decide whether to say “yes” or “no” when you don’t have time to do everything that’s asked of you [06:15];
Why investing in the development of a single-payer health system would provide better care upstream so that we can save on our costly low-value care downstream [11:00];
What Esther will always stand up against: inequity [17:20];
The importance of advocating for systems solutions to problems, and how confining your practice to the hospital is an “exercise in futility” [19:00];
Esther’s pre- and post-game routines before and after night shifts [25:20];
Lessons Esther tries to impart on her trainees in the ED [29:00];
The importance of meeting patients where they are, whether they’re a heroin addict, borderline personality, or an a-hole [32:50];
Esther’s podcast, Doctor’s Log, which is a diary of the experience treating patients during the COVID pandemic [34:40];
How Esther responds when a patient refuses to be treated by her because of her race [38:18];
Sexism in medicine and how to get everyone (not just women) on board as advocates for...

19. Esther Choo and the Equity Quotient

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