Scott Webb (Host): In addition to proactive efforts to build an inclusive medical team representative of its community, Summa Health also offers 20 residency and fellowship programs with training that provides exposure to hands-on high-volume patient care using the most advanced technology.

And joining me today to discuss diversity and inclusion is Dr. Yoleetah Ilodi. She's an Internal Medicine physician specializing in Geriatric Care and the Medical Director of DEI at Summa Health.

This is Healthy Vitals, a podcast from Summa Health. I'm Scott Webb. Doctor, thanks so much for your time today. We're going to talk about the importance of diversifying medical education and what that means and your role at Summa Health and all that good stuff. I want to have you explain some of the obstacles that underrepresented minorities encounter as I'm sure they do in their medical education journey.

Dr. Yoleetah Ilodi: To be an underrepresented minority, it is defined as Black or African-American, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, Hawaiian. There are several obstacles. First being, just getting into medical school. The second being, just getting into residency and to be able to make it through residency. There has been studies cited that Black and Hispanic residents' attrition rates for residency is 10 times that of their counterparts. So, just staying in residency is difficult enough. And then, you have problems with support. Sometimes they may be the only individual of color in their program. It typically is maybe there's no faculty of color to give them any support. Not that other folks, other faculty don't show support, but they may not have somebody who is such as a Black woman giving them the support that they need. And coming from a place where that faculty member can understand what the resident is going through. A lot of times, they are judged harder, they are evaluated harder. Several times, their peers may not be as open to them as the their other colleagues. There are so many obstacles for them. It's sometimes a very lonely place. And they do reach out for help, but sometimes they feel that their efforts fall on deaf ears.

Host: So, obstacles getting in, staying in, you mentioned the attrition rates. Why do you feel it's important to have minorities equally represented in medicine?

Dr. Yoleetah Ilodi: Great question. So, this is the reason why I went into equity and inclusion. I wanted to save lives. I recognized early on that having the diversity and having the difference in opinions and the difference of thoughts and the difference of even backgrounds truly saves lives. There has been a study that shows that with Black males, when they are seen by a physician of color, are more likely to follow the recommendations of that physician of color. And that was done out of Oakland not too long ago. But when you have the opportunity to understand someone from where they're from, or their language, or their background, you increase patient satisfaction, you increase quality of care as well as just compliance. You know, people want to come back and they want to see their doctor because that's someone that is familiar to them. They feel a kindred spirit with them. Oftentimes, we, in our residency program, if we have a patient from a certain background, such as if they're from Vietnam, we will try to pair them up with a Vietnamese doctor. And you really truly can tell from just the interaction how happy the patient is from the smile on their face, that they have somebody who speaks their own language. I mean, that is amazing. And it truly does decrease health disparities.

Host: So, what does it mean to be the medical director of DEI?

Dr. Yoleetah Ilodi: To be a medical director of DEI, I act as a diversity, equity, and inclusion patient and learner advocate. I act as a catalyst and a visible presence in the medical education space, to focus on sustaining an inclusive culture; two, a diverse of residency; and three, equity inclusion as a part of all aspects of medical education.

Host: I feel like we could have a much longer conversation today, a much deeper conversation today. And I think we're just going to try to scratch the surface today. And I want to know what is Summa Health doing to increase the number of qualified underrepresented minority residents and faculty systemwide?

Dr. Yoleetah Ilodi: Summa has definitely made efforts to improve the pool of candidates because they understand that a lot of times, if a resident does their residency at Summa Health, then they will continue as practicing attending at Summa Health. And so, they have done several things to be able to support the residents as well as the medical students that come in to rotate through Summa Health.

Host: Yeah, it's very interesting. As I said, you know, I feel like we're just kind of scratching the surface today, but it's important to get the word out, right? That we're trying to find more underrepresented minorities to, you know, apply to medical school, for residency, to help them make it through the program. Because as you say, you know, patient outcomes go up so much when folks feel like they're being treated by people who understand them, who maybe speak their language and so forth. So, good stuff today. Thank you so much and you stay well.

Dr. Yoleetah Ilodi: Thank you.

Host: And to learn more about Summa Health's Department of Medical Education, go to summahealth.org/medicaleducation.

And if you enjoyed this episode of Healthy Vitals, we'd love it if you'd leave us a review. Your review helps others find our educational content. I'm Scott Webb. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk again next time.