Addressing the Burden and Management Strategies for Disparities and Inequities Among Liver Transplant Professionals: The ILTS Experience

Oya Andacoglu; Manhal Izzy; Dieter Adelmann; Victoria Aguilera; Chiara Becchetti; Marina Berenguer; Gabriella A Berlakovich; Simantika Ghosh; Emmanouil Giorgakis; Nyingi Kemmer; Keri E Lunsford; Iman F Montasser; Martin I Montenovo; Anna Mrzljak; Sher-Lu Pai; Irene Scalera; Nazia Selzner

doi:10.3389/ti.2023.11240

Addressing the Burden and Management Strategies for Disparities and Inequities Among Liver Transplant Professionals: The ILTS Experience

Transpl Int. 2023 Jun 2:36:11240. doi: 10.3389/ti.2023.11240. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Oya Andacoglu¹, Manhal Izzy², Dieter Adelmann³, Victoria Aguilera⁴, Chiara Becchetti⁵, Marina Berenguer⁴, Gabriella A Berlakovich⁶, Simantika Ghosh⁷, Emmanouil Giorgakis⁸, Nyingi Kemmer⁹, Keri E Lunsford¹⁰, Iman F Montasser¹¹, Martin I Montenovo¹², Anna Mrzljak¹³, Sher-Lu Pai¹⁴, Irene Scalera¹⁵, Nazia Selzner¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK, United States.
² Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States.
³ Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, UCSF School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
⁴ Hepatology and Liver Transplant Unit, IIS La Fe and CIBER-EHD, University of Valencia, Universitary and Politecnic Hospital La Fe, Valencia, Spain.
⁵ University Clinic for Visceral Surgery and Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁶ Division of Transplantation, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁷ Department of Anesthesiology, Narayana Health, Narayana, India.
⁸ Department of Surgery, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, United States.
⁹ Division of Gastroenterology, Tampa General Hospital, Tampa, FL, United States.
¹⁰ Department of Surgery, Division of Transplant and HPB Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, United States.
¹¹ Department of Tropical Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
¹² Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplant, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States.
¹³ Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
¹⁴ Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States.
¹⁵ Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplant, University Hospital Policlinic of Bari, Bari, Italy.
¹⁶ Ajmera Transplant Center, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Medical professional environments are becoming increasingly multicultural, international, and diverse in terms of its specialists. Many transplant professionals face challenges related to gender, sexual orientation or racial background in their work environment or experience inequities involving access to leadership positions, professional promotion, and compensation. These circumstances not infrequently become a major source of work-related stress and burnout for these disadvantaged, under-represented transplant professionals. In this review, we aim to 1) discuss the current perceptions regarding disparities among liver transplant providers 2) outline the burden and impact of disparities and inequities in the liver transplant workforce 3) propose potential solutions and role of professional societies to mitigate inequities and maximize inclusion within the transplant community.

Keywords: diversity; equity; inclusion; liver transplantation; professional societies.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Burnout, Professional*
Female
Health Workforce*
Humans
Liver Transplantation*
Male

Grants and funding

MB received grants from IISCarlos III (INT20/00061, PI19/01360). Ciberehd is partially funded by IISCarlos III.