Racial and ethnic disparities in care: the perspectives of cardiologists.
BACKGROUND
Despite extensive documentation of racial and ethnic disparities in care, provider awareness of disparities has been thought to be low. To be effective, educational efforts for physicians must consider providers' knowledge and beliefs about what causes disparities and what can be done about them.


RESULTS
We conducted a Web-based survey of 344 cardiologists to determine their level of awareness of disparities and views of underlying causes. Responses were assessed by means of 5-point Likert scales. Thirty-four percent of cardiologists agreed that disparities existed in care overall in the US healthcare system, and 33% agreed that disparities existed in cardiovascular care. Only 12% felt disparities existed in their own hospital setting, and even fewer, 5%, thought disparities existed in the care of their own patients. Despite this, most respondents rated the strength of the evidence about disparities as "very strong" or "strong." Respondents identified many potential causes for disparities in care but were more likely to endorse patient and system level factors (eg, insurance status or adherence) rather than provider level factors.


CONCLUSIONS
Cardiologists' awareness of disparities in care remains low, and awareness is inversely proportional to proximity to their own practice setting.
Lurie
Nicole
N
RAND Corporation, 1200 S Hayes St, Arlington, VA 22202, USA. lurie@rand.org
Fremont
Allen
A
Jain
Arvind K
AK
Taylor
Stephanie L
SL
McLaughlin
Rebecca
R
Peterson
Eric
E
Kong
B Waine
BW
Ferguson
T Bruce
TB
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002309:Cardiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy; D003625:Data Collection; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011287:Prejudice; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013903:Thoracic Surgery; D014481:United States