The meaning of race in health care and research--part 1: the impact of history.

Questions about the relevance of genetics to health disparities, and evidence that racial and ethnic health disparities are strongly associated with social factors are impacting the understanding of health care needs and research. This first of two articles (see the next issue of the journal for the second) examines the history of understanding race and its impact on assumptions and biases in healthcare. The concept of race as we know it is relatively modern. Yet, in the United States, race has strongly influenced the development of social systems and relations. The legacy of early ideas about race, and centuries of unequal treatment based on those ideas, plague us as a nation even today. Increasing evidence suggests that this is true in the arena of health care. In fact, mounting evidence indicates that the race of patients can significantly influence the treatment they get. Nurses need to develop a sophisticated understanding of issues and concerns relevant to race and health care, including the history of race, current literature on race and health care, as well as stereotypes and biases regarding race.