MUAM meets Black History Month

By Sharon Watty, Practice Educator and Professional Development Lead at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Trust.

Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month should be a highlight for every sonographer - a time to celebrate, educate and focus on ultrasound and all its wonderful applications and contributions across the medical field. October is also when Black History Month (BHM) is held in the UK, and it is equally a time to reflect, educate and celebrate the past, present and future of black people and UK black communities. The theme for this years’ BHM is ‘Reclaiming the Narrative’, and is a call to readdress some myths and misconceptions. In this article I hope to raise awareness of how reclaiming the true narrative within black communities, and MUAM, can go hand-in-hand and, in particular, how as sonographers we can play a part to help reduce health inequalities.

Health inequality results in sectors of our population receiving poorer healthcare than others - this is not unavoidable and it is not fair. The NHS has acknowledged the implications of health inequality and we, who work hard to deliver a healthcare service, must change how we deliver healthcare to all sectors. Changing our practice awareness to be more inclusive and address black health inequalities will go a long way to improve services to all.  

There are many medical related myths and misconceptions surrounding black people which exist, and unfortunately these negatively impact how we treat patients of colour.  

Here are some facts and myths:

‘Black people naturally have a higher blood pressure’   – MYTH

‘Black people can tolerate more pain’  – MYTH

‘Black women have a wider pelvis and can birth easier’  – MYTH

 ‘Most black women have fibroids’ – well, this is not a myth, fibroids are common across all ethnicities however more common in black women, this does not mean every or most black woman have fibroids. 

‘Black women are more likely to die during or shortly after childbirth’ – sadly, this is not a myth but an unfortunate and fearful reality for many black women and birthing people. 

The nature of sonography means that we have a unique opportunity to offer personalised, patient-centred care. We take a clinical history, interpret images, inform patient pathways, and often communicate results to patients. Myths, however, contribute to misinterpreting the information we receive.

Oftentimes, black women present with clinically significant signs and symptoms - these are often automatically interchanged for things like, ‘it's probably fibroids’ - when potential suspicions of cancer in black people should be treated with equal levels of curiosity and urgency as any other person.

Black women also often feel they are not heard by their health care professionals, commonly resulting in delays to treatment and late diagnosis, increasing morbidity and mortality rates. Whilst causes of death amongst black women around childbirth may not be detected during routine obstetric ultrasound, every clinical encounter matters. Listen to women, carefully, and be inquisitive regarding any complaints of pain, distress or anxiety. Could we provide better information at the time of diagnosis, including using written information or video links, bearing in mind potential language barriers? These may allow informed discussions between patients and their referrer and potentially lead to early intervention.

Health inequality spans many medical problems. Engage in patient voice groups and community support groups, as the best way to learn about lived experiences, dispel the myths which cloud clinical judgements, and discover the true narratives within black communities.  Use this to improve and inform your own guidelines, processes and support for sonographers to do our part in promoting and delivering health equity as part of our everyday roles.