Satveer Kaur-Gill will present “Racially Discordant Provider-Patient Communication during End-of-Life Conversations” at 1 p.m. Oct. 4 in the Nebraska Union Platte River Room. The talk will also be livestreamed via Zoom for those who are not able to attend in-person.

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required for in-person and virtual options. Register by Sept. 22 to attend.

The literature continues to document communication inequities during the provider-patient clinical encounter stemming from verbal and nonverbal biases communicated by providers during interactions with patients. For example, in 2022, a textual analysis of 1.8 million notes taken by providers (e.g., nurses, physicians) of patients in critical care found that the pain symptoms of Black, African-American and Asian patients were more neglected than those of white patients. Thus, racially discordant provider-patient medical interactions contribute to health inequalities for non-white patients in the United States that result from verbal and nonverbal communication practices. In this presentation, Kaur-Gill will share how they examined provider communication practices by triangulating methods (semi-structured interviews with patients and providers, observational notes and conversation analysis) to identify communication inequities occurring in racially discordant provider-patient encounters. These research studies aim to improve care for non-white patients in racially discordant provider-patient encounters during end-of-life decision-making in face-to-face and telemedicine consultations.

Kaur-Gill is a postdoctoral research associate with the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College. Her research examines how populations with unequal access to health, social and digital resources experience health disparities, often adopting a critical interpretive lens such as the culture-centered approach. Her primary research goal is to build health equity interventions that anchor community and patient voices.

This talk is sponsored by the Minority Health Disparities Initiative, and it is an installment within their Health Equity Grand Rounds.