heart transplant fellow at the University of Birmingham in Alabama.
Dr. Keith C. Ferdinand, professor of medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans and former chair of the Association of Black Cardiologists, said doctors should take the time to learn as much as they can about their patients to better understand how their home life, work environment, educational background and personal relationships affect their health.
Ferdinand emphasized the need for doctors to learn how to talk to patients. The complicated words many doctors use to describe diseases and treatments can scare or confuse patients, he said, which may influence whether they decide to have a procedure such as valve replacement, which can extend survival and lessen symptoms.
Both Horne and Ferdinand noted that black patients can also benefit from efforts to bring surgical procedures to treat heart valve diseases to more hospitals that serve a predominantly black population.
“We think that we’re just missing out on too many patients,” Horne said.