Earlier this year, Dr. Joaquin Arambula, an emergency room physician from Selma, became the first Latino physician to serve in the State Assembly after being elected to represent the state鈥檚 31st聽District 鈥� a central California agricultural region where the population is nearly 70 percent Latino.
Arambula said he ran for office partly because of the rapidly growing influx of Spanish-speaking patients in his emergency department. He sought reinforcements, 鈥渂ut there aren鈥檛 enough doctors with the cultural competency and understanding of the Latino community鈥� to serve this growing population, Arambula said.
鈥淭his is something that needs to change,鈥� he said.
Arambula and members of the Latino Physicians of California, a professional group that seeks to boost the number of Latino doctors in the state, spoke to reporters last week聽about the need for more representation of Latinos in the medical field.
Latinos make up about 40 percent of the population in California 鈥� outnumbering any other ethnic-racial group, and they鈥檙e expected to constitute聽a . But only about 5 percent of all physicians in the state are Latino, according to the . Latinos also represent 8 percent of nurses and about 4 percent of pharmacists, the group of physicians noted.聽(California Healthline is an editorially independent publication of the California Health Care Foundation.)
Adding to the need, more than one-third of Latino physicians plan to retire within the next 10 years, according to a new of the LPOC鈥檚 physician members.
This is especially pressing when Latinos make up聽a small percentage of students graduating from medical schools, said Dr. Jose Arevalo, chair of the Latino physicians group.
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 7 percent of medical school graduates in California identified as Latino in 2015.
鈥淚f we are going to properly serve our current and future patient base, we must begin to develop a true pipeline to bring in Latino physicians and health professionals to meet this growing need,鈥� Arevalo said.
Arevalo and colleagues also pointed to a that showed a decline in the number of Latino physicians. In 1980, for example, there were聽an estimated 135 Latino doctors for every 100,000 Latinos in the U.S. By 2010, that ratio dropped to 105 per every 100,000.
Silvia Diego, a family doctor in Modesto, said Latino doctors simply are better equipped to serve the needs of Latino patients. Understanding the language and culture results in better health outcomes, she said.
鈥淟atinos are very family-centric, we take care of our old, we learn traditional home remedies,鈥� Diego said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult to establish a patient-doctor relationship if [doctors] don鈥檛 understand or dismiss cultural values.鈥�
Interpreters can help patients understand doctors鈥� orders, Diego said, but that doesn鈥檛 help close gaps in patient-doctor relationships.
鈥淎nd then we wonder,鈥� she added, 鈥渨hy there are large health disparities among Latinos.鈥�
She and her colleagues agreed: Most Latino patients, especially those who only speak Spanish, will seek the Latino doctors in their communities.
鈥淏ut the few of us cannot take the many of them,鈥� she said.
The problem is exacerbated in areas, such as the Central Valley, where the Latino population is known to struggle with chronic conditions, such as diabetes and obesity.
But the passage of the in California may help more Latinos become doctors. The legislation, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in September, allows students without papers pursuing medical professions to apply for state scholarships and loan forgiveness programs. The law goes into effect next year.
Medical education is expensive but is even more so for students in the country illegally because they are barred from receiving federal financial aid.
Dr. Catherine Lucey, vice dean for education at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, said there are聽not enough scholarship opportunities for medical students in general. 鈥淪tudents are daunted with anticipated debt,鈥� Lucey said, 鈥渁nd this does influence career decisions.鈥�
This may be an even greater concern for first-generation students, who often are responsible for supporting their families financially.
UCSF鈥檚 School of Medicine, Lucey said, is pushing to diversify its student body with the help of pipeline medical education programs as well as through a more holistic approach to admissions. This encompasses taking into account more than just test scores but also the ability to communicate in a second language and a student鈥檚 environment. Currently Latinos make up about 20 percent of UCSF鈥檚 medical students, Lucey said.
鈥淢ore diversity means health care quality is better, team science is better,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he medical education profession believes this.鈥�
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