We are lucky to have Dr Mary O'Connor among the experts that contribute to this community! Hear her answer questions about disparities for women and minorities and explain why regular movement and exercise is the key to breaking the vicious cycle of pain and immobility. What do you think?
Are women and minorities receiving less care... - Stand Up 2 OA
Stand Up 2 OA
316 posts•
Are women and minorities receiving less care than others with arthritis?
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Mary4957Ambassador
Dear HealthUnlocked Member,
I am interested in learning of your experiences---if you are a woman, do you feel that you have received the same quality of medical care as a man?
Dr. O'Connor
• in reply toMary4957
Yes I believe I receive the same healthcare as a man. I am retired but have worked as an RN for 43 yr here in the USA. The last 20 yr was in home health. We saw patients from all over mid missouri from various hospitals and doctors.. I have not witnessed any gender discrimination in the heatlcare field I was in.
Hoski, thank you for that affirmation. Good to hear your experience and I hope that others can share positive responses as well. Unfortunately, there is data that women undergo joint replacement surgery at a later stage of disease than men. Certainly there are many factors that would contribute to that--women tend to be more risk adverse, may have family responsibilities that cause then to decide to delay their own health needs, etc. There is some data, however, that suggests that there is also some bias in the recommendations that women are given compared to men....and unfortunately there is literature which says this occurs in many medical fields, not just orthopedics. My bias---I think we (medical community) don't believe women like we do men, namely we are biased that a women exaggerates her pain level compared to a man and so we think her knee arthritis is bad, but maybe not as bad as she says.....(unless her x-rays show severe arthritis, then we believe her).
Yes I can see how that can happen as I believe it is true re heart attack recognition in the ER. Personally, Im pretty sure I will end up with a TKR one day, but Id rather stay in the land of denial as long as possible😂
Hoski, I am sorry to hear that you have knee arthritis. And certainly no one should have surgery before it is needed. I just will add the caveat that women wait longer than men for TKR and while women do get the same benefit as men in terms of pain relief and functional improvement, women do not have the same final outcome for pain and function as men---why? maybe because they were worse than men at the time of surgery. When is the "sweet spot" ---don't know. MOVING is the key to keeping your knees as healthy as possible...so please keep MOVING.
Merry Christmas!
Mary
• in reply toMary4957
Thank you so much. I am making myself ride my ex bike. I can walk 1/4 mile but then my knee gets too painful. Working on losing my last 35 lb. so glad for this site. It is so helpful .
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