ABSTRACT
Resumo Após 13 anos da publicação da Política Nacional da Saúde Integral da População Negra (PNSIPN), o preenchimento do quesito raça/cor na identificação de pacientes permanece um desafio. Autores têm se debruçado sobre a necessidade de integrar os conhecimentos da ciência da implementação às políticas públicas. O objetivo deste artigo é descrever e analisar a implementação da coleta do quesito raça/cor feito pelos profissionais responsáveis pelo registro dos pacientes num hospital universitário do município de São Paulo. Estudo exploratório e descritivo, estruturado a partir de três constructos do Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR): intervenção, cenário interno e características dos indivíduos. Resultados: a maioria dos registros do quesito raça/cor na instituição observada é feita por heteroidentificação. A partir dos constructos do CFIR, são identificados aspectos apontados como obstáculos ou facilitadores. A implementação da coleta do quesito raça/cor por autodeclaração, como previsto na PNSIPN e na Portaria 344/2017, ainda é incipiente e depende de mudanças, sobretudo organizacionais, que favoreçam sua efetivação.
Abstract Thirteen years after the publication of the National Policy for the Comprehensive Health of the Black Population (PNSIPN, Política Nacional da Saúde Integral da População Negra), filling out the race/skin color question in the patient identification form remains a challenge. Authors have focused on the need to integrate knowledge from the science of implementation into public policies. The aim of this article is to describe and analyze the implementation of the collection of the race/skin color item carried out by the professionals responsible for the registration of patients at a university hospital in the city of São Paulo. This was an exploratory and descriptive study, structured from three constructs of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR): intervention, internal scenario and characteristics of individuals. Most records of race/skin color in the observed institution are made by heteroidentification. Based on the CFIR constructs, aspects identified as obstacles and facilitators are identified. The implementation of the collection of the race/skin color item by self-declaration, as provided for in the PNSIPN and in Ordinance n. 344/2017, is still incipient and depends mainly on organizational changes, which can favor its effectiveness.
ABSTRACT
The concept of "race" emerged in the 1600s with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, justifying slavery; it has been used to justify exploitation, denigration and decimation. Since then, despite contrary scientific evidence, a deeply-rooted belief has taken hold that "race," indicated by, e.g., skin color or facial features, reflects fundamental biological differences. We propose that the term "race" be abandoned, substituting "ethnic group" while retaining "racism," with the goal of dismantling it. Despite scientific consensus that "race" is a social construct, in official U.S. classifications, "Hispanic"/"Latino" is an "ethnicity" while African American/Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, and European American/White are "races." There is no scientific basis for this. Each grouping reflects ancestry in a particular continent/region and shared history, e.g., the genocide and expropriation of Indigenous peoples, African Americans' enslavement, oppression and ongoing disenfranchisement, Latin America's Indigenous roots and colonization. Given migrations over millennia, each group reflects extensive genetic admixture across and within continents/regions. "Ethnicity" evokes social characteristics such as history, language, beliefs, customs. "Race" reinforces notions of inherent biological differences based on physical appearance. While not useful as a biological category, geographic ancestry is a key social category for monitoring and addressing health inequities because of racism's profound influence on health and well-being. We must continue to collect and analyze data on the population groups that have been racialized into socially constructed categories called "races." We must not, however, continue to use that term; it is not the only obstacle to dismantling racism, but it is a significant one.
