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I am a nurses aid in a southern area of the United States. More than half of my patients are black. I have worked in other places where the patients were mostly white. It seems to me like the white folks get more medications and faster for pain than people of any other color. The more I pay attention to this situation, the more convinced I am that it is really true. Should I say something to the nurses? They are the ones giving out the pain pills.

Non-white racial groups suffer from more than just a lack of housing, employment, and justice in the criminal system. They also receive unequal health care. In a recent review of pain management, researchers found that there are some serious health care inequalities among minority groups Whether it's acute pain, chronic pain, cancer pain, arthritis pain, or pain after surgery, it is clear that all people are not treated alike when it comes to pain management. Take for example, care in the emergency room. It is often the case that Hispanic and African American patients are not given any pain medication for broken bones. This is true for Hispanics even when English is their main language and they have adequate health insurance. When it comes to the treatment of disabling pain from headaches or back problems, minorities are less likely to be given opioid (narcotic) medications. Studies assessing control of postoperative pain report varied results. There may be a trend for better postop pain control in a descending order: Caucasians are offered the highest dose of opioids, then blacks, Hispanics, and Asian Americans last with the lowest dose for the same level of pain. And there's been some data to show that this is true even when other factors are equal such as insurance coverage, type of surgical procedure, and number of days in the hospital. It's very possible that your observations are accurate. But what to do about it can be a complex and challenging problem. The first step may be to express your concerns to your supervisor. Bringing it to the attention of the management staff may not result in an immediate change but it's a place to start.

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