GLP podcast: DEI-addicted medical schools are jeopardizing health care—Dr. Nikki Johnson

Doctors are leaving medical school ill-equipped to do their jobs and patients–especially the poorest among us–are receiving inferior care that jeopardizes their well being. America has some of the best medical schools and hospitals in the world, so how is this happening? According to pediatrician Nikki Johnson, medical education and practice in the US have abandoned patient-centered care in a favor of an ideology-fueled model that prizes Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) over actual medical training.

Johnson watched this devolution occur in real time and ultimately left her practice in 2023 to promote needed reform in the US health care system.  She outlined some of her concerns in a recent article titled A Call to Return to Core Medical Principles. Focusing on alarming changes to the Hippocratic Oath, Johnson warned that medical education is indoctrinating physicians to view patients as members of groups with predetermined needs, rather than individuals who require personalized care based on their unique circumstances.

The focus on demographic categories risks overshadowing the rigorous scientific education that is vital for effective medical practice. Rather than equipping future healthcare providers with the profound understanding of disease mechanisms, prevention, and treatment, we are diverting attention to a discourse that categorizes patients into overly simplistic boxes. This approach not only undermines the complexity of individual health needs, but also has the potential to dilute the mastery of clinical skills required for effective patient care.

The tragic irony? This activism-infused medicine actually harms the very people it’s ostensibly designed to help. On this episode of Facts and Fallacies, Dr. Nikki (as she was known to her patients) joins GLP contributor Cameron English to discuss where medicine went wrong, and why it should return to its bedrock principles—competence, compassion and a patient-first focus.

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Nikki Johnson holds a medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and has earned certification in both General Pediatrics and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. Visit her website and follow her on X @notaproviderMD

Cameron J. English is the director of bio-sciences at the American Council on Science and Health. Visit his website and follow him on X @camjenglish