IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v279y2021ics0277953621003002.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“First do no harm”: Clinical practice guidelines, mesolevel structural racism, and medicine's epistemological reckoning

Author

Listed:
  • Rondini, Ashley C.
  • Kowalsky, Rachel H.

Abstract

This paper presents a critique of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) that standardize the use of race as a proxy for biological difference in medical settings. Drawing on the illustrative example of a pediatric UTI testing guideline, we contend that when CPGs necessitate that Black patients meet a higher threshold of illness severity or duration than their non-Black counterparts to receive comparable medical testing or other medical care, they function as mesolevel sites of race-racism reification processes (see Sewell, 2016) that contribute to the reproduction of racial health disparities. We describe broader implications and make recommendations for the conceptualization and implementation of future research in the sociological study of race, health, and medicine.

Suggested Citation

  • Rondini, Ashley C. & Kowalsky, Rachel H., 2021. "“First do no harm”: Clinical practice guidelines, mesolevel structural racism, and medicine's epistemological reckoning," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:279:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621003002
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113968
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621003002
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113968?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stern, A.M., 2005. "Sterilized in the name of public health: Race, immigration, and reproductive control in modern California," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(7), pages 1128-1138.
    2. Lee, Catherine, 2009. ""Race" and "ethnicity" in biomedical research: How do scientists construct and explain differences in health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1183-1190, March.
    3. Ford, Chandra L. & Airhihenbuwa, Collins O., 2010. "The public health critical race methodology: Praxis for antiracism research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(8), pages 1390-1398, October.
    4. Sandro Serpa & Carlos Miguel Ferreira, 2019. "Micro, Meso and Macro Levels of Social Analysis," International Journal of Social Science Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 7(3), pages 120-124, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jeffrey Anvari-Clark & Theda Rose, 2023. "Financial Behavioral Health and Investment Risk Willingness: Implications for the Racial Wealth Gap," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-29, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yauheniya Barkun & Ewa Glińska & Katarzyna Dębkowska, 2021. "Differentiation of regional attractiveness for gaining talents in the context of place branding theory," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(1), pages 78-92, March.
    2. Malat, Jennifer & Mayorga-Gallo, Sarah & Williams, David R., 2018. "The effects of whiteness on the health of whites in the USA," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 148-156.
    3. Joe, Sean & Banks, Andrae & Belue, Rhonda, 2016. "Suicide risk among urban children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 73-79.
    4. Power, Luke & Hardy, Mark, 2024. "Predictors of care leavers’ health outcomes: A scoping review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    5. Jennifer Barber & Jennifer Yarger & Heather Gatny, 2015. "Black-White Differences in Attitudes Related to Pregnancy Among Young Women," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(3), pages 751-786, June.
    6. Carla Brailey & Brittany C. Slatton, 2024. "Centering Black Women’s Voices: Illuminating Systemic Racism in Maternal Healthcare Experiences," Societies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-12, May.
    7. Gemma E. Shields & Mark Wilberforce & Paul Clarkson & Tracey Farragher & Arpana Verma & Linda M. Davies, 2022. "Factors Limiting Subgroup Analysis in Cost-Effectiveness Analysis and a Call for Transparency," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 149-156, February.
    8. Young, Maria-Elena De Trinidad & Sudhinaraset, May & Tafolla, Sharon & Nakphong, Michelle & Yan, Yueqi & Kietzman, Kathryn, 2024. "The “disproportionate costs” of immigrant policy on the health of Latinx and Asian immigrants," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 353(C).
    9. Michael A. Clemens & Ethan G. Lewis & Hannah M. Postel, 2018. "Immigration Restrictions as Active Labor Market Policy: Evidence from the Mexican Bracero Exclusion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1468-1487, June.
    10. Proctor, Alana & Krumeich, Anja & Meershoek, Agnes, 2011. "Making a difference: The construction of ethnicity in HIV and STI epidemiological research by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(11), pages 1838-1845, June.
    11. Emily Brown Weida & Pam Phojanakong & Falguni Patel & Mariana Chilton, 2020. "Financial health as a measurable social determinant of health," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-14, May.
    12. Sandro Serpa & Ana Isabel Santos & Carlos Miguel Ferreira, 2020. "Contributions of Ivan Illich to Education in a Digital Society," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 9, March.
    13. Scott, Darius, 2022. "Uncaring landscapes and HIV peer support in the rural Southern United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    14. Hicken, Margaret T. & Kravitz-Wirtz, Nicole & Durkee, Myles & Jackson, James S., 2018. "Racial inequalities in health: Framing future research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 11-18.
    15. Xiaohui Sophie Li, 2021. "What Impacts Young Generations’ School/College Education Through the Lens of Family Economics? A Review on JFEI Publications in the Past Ten Years," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 118-123, July.
    16. Leiter, Valerie, 2024. "Signs and symptoms: Adverse events associated with a sterilization device," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    17. Jackie Harrison & Diana Maynard & Sara Torsner, 2020. "Strengthening the Monitoring of Violations against Journalists through an Events-Based Methodology," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 89-100.
    18. Kristoffersson, Emelie & Rönnqvist, Hanna & Andersson, Jenny & Bengs, Carita & Hamberg, Katarina, 2021. "“It was as if I wasn't there” – Experiences of everyday racism in a Swedish medical school," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    19. Quinn, Katherine G. & Edwards, Travonne & Johnson, Anthony & Takahashi, Lois & Dakin, Andrea & Bouacha, Nora & Voisin, Dexter, 2023. "Understanding the impact of police brutality on Black sexually minoritized men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    20. Jason L. Cummings, 2020. "Assessing U.S. Racial and Gender Differences in Happiness, 1972–2016: An Intersectional Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 709-732, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:279:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621003002. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.