Inspector Squirrel’s Multicultural Medical Notebook

Women and people of color often face bias and racism when seeking medical care. And even celebrities are not protected.

According to Dayna Bowen Matthew JD, Ph.D. author of Just Medicine, more than 83,000 people of color lose their lives annually because of implicit basis and unintentional racism while seeking health care.

Factor in statistics from John Hopkins University studies, including other sources of medical mistakes and potential exposure to non-fatal but costly life-changing errors. The figures increase from 250,000 to more than 400,000, depending on which study is cited.

Due diligence? Self-advocacy? Take responsibility? However fully one follows these ideals, the actions may not produce the expected results.

This little multicultural medical notebook is written from a consumer viewpoint, unlike many books for consumers written by doctors and other professionals.

Inspector Squirrel’s Multicultural Medical Notebook includes valuable information you won’t find in traditional personal health journals, such as …

An eye-opening article about people of color and prescription drugs.
Tips about fact-gathering information from medical experts.
Better anatomy illustrations that helps you show medical personnel where you are feeling pain.
What you should know but probably do not know about red flags and your health records.

Take the following true story. When a new patient repeatedly complained of lower arm pain, the health care provider noted the issue with a little minus sign added to the notation in the patient’s medical records. Meaning the healthcare provider made an error or did not believe the patient; because the dash was a minus sign indicating the injury was resolving.

Although the patient checked the medical records, the meaning of the little minus sign was unknown to the patient. But the sign would not be unknown to the other medical professional reading the patient’s records. The patient’s continued complaints were wrongly categorized as emotional.

Inspector Squirrel’s Multicultural Medical Notebook is inspired by firsthand experience and research with conventional and alternative care providers.

Use this multicultural medical notebook in three ways:

As a timesaving inside look at often overlooked issues while navigating the medical marketplace for even a seemingly superficial injury.
As a fact-gathering and record-keeping tool
As a supplementary lesson for independent health educators teaching adult or teen students.