I recently read an article that predicted a white minority in the United States by the year 2023. My reaction: totally awesome! I can't think of a more exciting time to live in America if we truly are nearing a multicolored majority. Simply put, if I can surround myself with people of other cultures and colors right here in my own home town (state, nation), maybe my children will not see skin color, food choices, and religious/spiritual beliefs as reasons to hate. Maybe I (and my peers) will be able to learn from other cultures about how to treat parents and aged family members. Maybe the obesity trend will reverse (or maybe not since many people who are transplanted from other nations to the United States adopt our eating habits and gain weight at equivalent rates of Americans). Maybe traditional medicine will become partners or (gasp) play second-fiddle to nontraditional health practices. Maybe I won't feel the loss of not being able to travel internationally (egocentric, yes, but a girl's got to have a dream).
I know that some people won't share my enthusiasm for the proportionally shrinking Caucasian piece of the pie, and I respect that. I don't understand it, but I respect it. For me, the idea of increasing the pretty colors just makes for a more interesting quilt. But it does bring up a question for me, as a medical provider and a faculty member at a graduate physician program: why are most of my students still white? In the business of training medical providers, specifically future physician assistants, we are still very much in the white majority.
I see this as a major health care issue because there is sufficient evidence both in the medical literature and in the lay press that patients feel more comfortable receiving medical care from someone of similar ethnic background. This has previously been a “black and white” issue in the literal sense, as past demographic statistics simply separated people as white and nonwhite—but with the increasing diversity in previous minority groups, and these groups now becoming the majority in the United States, it's a much more complicated situation. And, I believe, there is more serious need to attract and retain students of diverse ethnic background. We can't call them minorities for too much longer. How we will attract a more diverse student population is still an unknown as non-Caucasian Americans, although increasing in numbers, are not necessarily finding increased opportunities. This is especially true with regards to early educational opportunities, which lay a foundation for an interest and possible future success in PA school.
Not being politically oriented, I am stumped to suggest any governmental solution—and frankly, I am not sure the push would be there for a result (think: health care reform). What I suggest is simple: if you are a practicing PA, consider reaching out to people of ALL ethnicities and maybe, particularly, to our current but not permanent minority. Become a mentor. Have young students shadow you if that is allowed at your practice. Go to school career fairs in urban centers as well as rural schools and get the word out. And, perhaps more importantly, as an American, embrace this change towards a multicolored majority. It is the future of our nation and will be part of what sets us apart from, and possibly brings us together with, other countries.
Dawn Colomb-Lippa is a professor of physician assistant studies at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut.