Skip to main content
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Digital Health
    • Transformation
    • ESG
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Blogs
    • AI
    • Deals
    • Layoff Tracker
    • HIMSS 2023
  • Opinion
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - AI and Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
  • Data & Insights
    • Data & Insights Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • Newsletters
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Opinion
April 18, 2020 12:00 AM

COVID-19 offers opportunities for more equality in our healthcare system

Dr. Sheila Dugan
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Dr. Sheila Dugan

    Dr. Sheila Dugan is professor and interim chair of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Rush University System for Health in Chicago and a Carol Emmott Fellow.

    The impact on women is equally distressing, as we see domestic violence rates soar, disproportionate pressure on women to juggle childcare and work, and a greater toll on women-majority workforces like nursing.

    However, the pandemic may also have a positive effect among our nation’s historically stratified healthcare workforce. In medicine, where divisions along lines of gender, specialty and race are routinely pronounced, this crisis seems to be closing some of those gaps. Health system leaders should take note of this development—and nurture it.

    As the chair of Rush University Medical Center’s Women’s Leadership Council and a member of our Diversity Leadership Council, I am one of the meager 16% of women who sit in leadership positions at academic medical schools nationwide, and I’ve spent my career advocating for greater inclusion of women and underrepresented groups in the workforce. Women make up over half of graduating medical school students and represent a full 80% of the total healthcare workforce, yet account for just 3% of healthcare CEOs, 3% of chief medical officers, and 9% of division chiefs. Moreover, they’re paid less than their male counterparts, receive less in National Institutes of Health grant funding, and are significantly less likely to hold first and senior authorship positions.

    But crises have the power to level the playing field. In a March 2 piece for Smithsonian Magazine, the authors write, “The 1918 influenza pandemic … had one silver lining: It helped elevate women in American society socially and financially, providing them more freedom, independence, and a louder voice in the political arena.” While that remains to be seen on a national level, my current experience in leadership is showing me that this transition is now afoot in healthcare.

    Recently, during meetings with leaders from across my own organization, I’ve been struck by the number of women spearheading task forces, bringing forth innovative ideas about supply chain and protocols, driving our internal and external communication strategies, and using data to make predictions and plans. Together, our organization is actively seeking the opinions of a range of clinicians, behavioral health professionals, and community health workers, as well as pushing each of us to get creative in team composition and the sourcing of expertise. Real collaboration is on display, not just faint calls for interprofessionalism that many clinicians know all too well. For the first time in my career, I sense an urgency from myself and my colleagues to ensure that every voice is heard.

    My experience isn’t unique. As a member of the Carol Emmott Fellowship, a national collaboration of women leaders in medicine, I’ve been heartened to hear similar examples from my counterparts across the country. Women are being welcomed into leadership roles and redefining those roles. The usual judgments about women leaders—from how we look to how we lead—are taking a backseat to matters of substance, like competence, collaboration and outcomes.

    We need more of this equitable attention, not just because it’s good for our workforce, but because this kind of inclusion across identities and disciplines is essential to addressing inequity outside the clinic walls.

    In the throes of this extraordinary moment in time, I implore my colleagues to hold on to the lessons we’re gleaning. Perhaps it has taken this crisis to shed some bias, invite more people and perspectives to the table, and actually follow through on the insights we’re hearing from historically underrepresented members of our teams.

    Now more than ever, we need all hands on deck. And welcoming all hands—all identities—can be part of a new post-pandemic normal.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    Elevance Health
    Elevance, Blue Cross Louisiana halt $2.5B proposed deal
    North Carolina Medicaid expansion to launch on Dec. 1
    North Carolina Medicaid expansion to launch on Dec. 1
    Most Popular
    1
    CMS tries luring providers to revamped Medicare ACOs
    2
    Oregon joins other states in setting ratios for nurse staffing
    3
    Blue Shield CA taps Amazon, Mark Cuban, CVS for new PBM model
    4
    A health innovation hub grows in Lake Nona Medical City
    5
    Hospital-at-home providers push for Medicaid coverage
    Sponsored Content
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Help Center
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Digital Health
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • ESG
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Blogs
      • AI
      • Deals
      • Layoff Tracker
      • HIMSS 2023
    • Opinion
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - AI and Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
      • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
    • Data & Insights
      • Data & Insights Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • Newsletters
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing