Interview Time as a Proxy for the Racism Experienced by Black and Latino Physicians in the US.

Context Black and Latino physicians in the US continue to experience racial discrimination in the workplace.There is paucity of data exploring whether the time spent discussing these experiences varies by the physician’s race/ethnicity. Higher burden rates from racism led to longer interview times as it gave physicians a space to share their experiences.

Objective Compare the length of interview times amongst physicians of different racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Setting & Population Physicians who self-identified as White, Black or Latino were recruited based on convenience sampling via personal, academic, or professional networks.

Methods Semi-structured one-to-one virtual interviews were conducted with White, Black, and Latino physicians in the US. All interviews were audio-taped, transcribed, and analyzed for thematic content.

Results and Conclusions Most participants were 30-45 years old (N 7), had an MD degree (N=12), were associate professors (N=4), worked in an urban setting (N=5). Participants represented 3 states and 9 institutions and self-identified as White (N= 5), Black (N= 3), or Latino (N = 6). When compared, Latino physicians had longer average interview minutes (39, SD = 12.9) followed by White physicians (25.2, SD = 12.6) then Black physicians (23.7, SD = 5.13). Interviews of Latino physicians were significantly longer than their White and Black counterparts (p = 0.049).

Thematic analysis demonstrated that Black and Latino physicians of color experienced microaggressions and racism from co-workers, bosses, patients and/or learners. All Latino physicians reported both micro/macro-aggressions from their patients. When compared to White physicians, both Black and Latino physicians were more likely to have their professional credibility questioned by their colleagues and leadership (0%, 67%, 83% respectively) and a reported sense of invalidation from their experiences with learners. All Latino physicians interviewed considered leaving their job as physicians at some point in their career. Latino physicians experienced a higher emotional tax which in turn may have lengthened their interview times when compared to their White and Black counterparts. Further research should be done to explore the burden of racial discrimination in the healthcare field towards underrepresented populations.