{"id":474439,"date":"2021-04-09T17:19:43","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T21:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/?p=474439"},"modified":"2021-04-09T17:19:43","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T21:19:43","slug":"mass-general-brigham-physicians-call-for-elimination-of-harmful-language-in-clinical-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/index.php\/mass-general-brigham-physicians-call-for-elimination-of-harmful-language-in-clinical-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass General Brigham Physicians Call for Elimination of Harmful Language in Clinical Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nContinued Use of Diagnoses like \u201cRed Man Syndrome\u201d Undermine Health Equity
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Boston, April 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In a new perspective published in the\u00a0New England Journal of Medicine<\/a><\/strong>, physicians from Mass General Brigham and Johns Hopkins Medicine say it is time to eliminate the use of racist and harmful terms such as \u201cRed Man Syndrome\u201d and encourage improvements in drug-allergy documentation that recognize the diversity of patient populations.<\/p>\n

The article focuses on terminology used to describe a drug reaction to Vancomycin, the most commonly used antibiotic in U.S. hospitals. As many as half of patients who receive Vancomycin have this reaction and yet since 1959, the symptoms have been widely referred to by clinicians as \u201cRed Man Syndrome.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Similar to \u201credskin,\u201d which was\u00a0recently removed as the name of Washington DC\u2019s NFL team<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0after many years of protest, \u201cRed Man\u201d calls up historical narratives that endorse and reinforce discrimination against American Indians and Indigenous peoples say the study\u2019s authors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can move beyond \u201cRed Man Syndrome\u201d just as we have changed problematic references to avoid Nazi associations and have confronted race \u2018corrections\u2019 in clinical practice,\u201d says Kimberly Blumenthal, MD, MSc the study\u2019s senior author, who is an allergy specialist and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital. \u201cAdditionally, the current use of this term causes inequities beyond its original racist implications. It is centered around the reaction of a white male and perpetuates biases and racial norms that may undermine prompt and equitable diagnoses and treatment for patients of color.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

This was demonstrated in a prior research\u00a0study<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0that demonstrated that \u201cRed Man Syndrome\u201d documentation was more likely for males (odds ratio, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.17-1.44) and less likely for blacks (odds ratio, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.47-0.75). Santiago Alvarez\u2011Arango, MD, allergy specialist and Clinical Pharmacology Fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, was the first author of both that prior study and this perspective.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alvarez\u2011Arango, in addition to co-authors, S. Michelle Ogunwole, MD, General Internal Medicine Fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Thomas D. Sequist, MD, MPH, Chief Patient Experience and Equity Officer for Mass General Brigham, Caitlin M. Burk, MD, Allergy and Immunology Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Kimberly G. Blumenthal, MD, MSc Co-Director of the Clinical Epidemiology Program within the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology and the Mongan Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital say that it is time to rename the reaction using a gender- and race- conscious approach that reinforces, rather than undermines health equity. They propose five critical steps to achieving this goal:<\/p>\n