Caitlin Moore has seen the devastating effects of bias and inequities in health care all too often.
Whether it is seeing her fellow health care professionals become annoyed when a patient is readmitted to the hospital for a recurring issue, or hearing some of the myths about caring for patients of color that date back hundreds of years, the Alabama-based nurse heard enough.
“A lot of what our myths are in medicine go back to the 1700s, 1800s and slavery,” said Moore, CNS ’22, adding one of those long-rooted myths is that black individuals feel pain differently from white people. “We are all different people and patient care does not fit in a cookie cutter.”
Moore has made racial inequities in health care a focus of her academic career and uses it to guide her in her work as a nurse in the Emergency Room at the University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital. She credits her time spent in the clinical nurse specialist program at the Michigan State University College of Nursing as preparing her to become an advocate for patients, especially for those whose thoughts or opinions are often dismissed by health care providers.
For example, one time recently, a patient was back in the hospital for a recurring issue. While some health care providers might have chalked it up to the patient just not taking their prescribed medications, Moore dug deeper and discovered the patient wasn’t taking them because the cost was too high. After sleuthing around and finding some coupons, she was able to get the patient the medications she needed for a price that would not compromise her other expenditures, like rent or food.
“Michigan State, especially with the focus on social determinants of health, really brought that to light for me,” Moore said. “Especially during my final two semesters, that inspired me to focus on health equity and racism in medicine.”
Social determinants of health, broadly speaking, describes the economic and social conditions in which a person lives that can impact their health outcomes across their life.
“The MSU College of Nursing helped me unleash my inner advocate." — Caitlin Moore
And that is a real concern in Birmingham, Ala., where, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than two-thirds of residents are black and nearly 25 percent of all citizens live in poverty. Compare that to similarly sized Grand Rapids, Mich., where two thirds of residents are white and less than 20 percent of all citizens live in poverty.
“Living in Birmingham has been a really great experience. I’ve been here for 10 years now working in the health care industry. I’ve been able to see a lot of different patient populations. I have seen how race and racism have affected the city and shaped things. It has helped me to take better care of my patients and to advocate for them.”
Moore grew up in west Michigan and went south for nursing school, ultimately settling in Alabama. However, when it came time to find an advanced practice program, she knew MSU was the right fit for her. The 100-percent online program was convenient, and the instructors seemed to genuinely care about their students, she said of her grad school search.
Dr. Jackeline Iseler, director of the Clinical Nurse Specialist program, said she was supportive of Moore’s research into racial disparities in health care because it is an issue that fits well into the role of a CNS.
“As a clinical nurse specialist, it’s really important to understand where your patients are coming from and the communities that you serve,” Iseler said. “It is important to advocate for our patients and you can do that through a variety of different systems.”
In addition to advocating for patients, Moore is also championing clinical nurse specialists, a role of which is not quite as prevalent in the south as it is in the Midwest. Moore is hoping to show the value of having CNS-trained professionals in a health care setting but knows that it will require legislative action to get full practice authority, which includes the right to medicate and operate without physician supervision. There are currently 89,000 clinical nurse specialists in the United States, according to the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists, and more than 75 percent do not have prescriptive authority.
Moore said she sees herself partly as an educator and will do what’s needed to improve health care for all.
“The MSU College of Nursing helped me unleash my inner advocate,” Moore said.
