ABFM Diplomate Shares Story About Using The Health Disparities/Equity Self-Directed PI Activity to Drive Behavior Change

As a family physician who is a longtime nursing home medical director, Karl Steinberg, MD, CMD, FAAFP wanted to do something “more action-oriented” that might result in some behavioral change. Dr. Steinberg implemented an “Improving Awareness of Systemic Racism and Microaggressions in Long-Term Care” project to address communication and staff literacy on issues of diversity and inclusion in a nursing home setting. The project addressed awareness of microaggressions affecting nursing home staff and residents, including infantilization of the residents and racist language.

“I think something really valuable came out of this project, and the staff and patients have become more aware of their language and actions,” said Dr. Steinberg, “I’ve noticed a very significant improvement.”

By selecting the Health Disparities Performance Improvement (PI) activity, Dr. Steinberg was able to implement educational interventions and use observations and patient interviews to gather the baseline and follow-up data as confirmation that the intervention was effective.

“I was really happy to see Health Disparities and Equity as one of the options. That was really evolved, and I appreciate the Board trying to move the needle in that direction.”
– Karl Steinberg, MD

The Health Disparities/Equity Self-Directed PI activity was created in 2020 to allow the completion of a custom quality improvement effort related to social determinants of health; health equity (broadly defined); and/or systemic ways in which you assure that patient access, experience, and care are equitable. By utilizing this performance improvement approach, a physician or group of physicians can address many different dimensions of care across any variety of practice types and scope.

Reflecting on his many years as a board-certified physician and his performance improvement work of the past, Dr. Steinberg said, “I was really happy to see Health Disparities and Equity as one of the options. That was really evolved, and I appreciate the Board trying to move the needle in that direction.”