The Journal of Vascular Surgery: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders (JVS-VL) has launched its first virtual special issue on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in vascular surgery.
“DEI issues have come to the forefront and affect multiple aspects of the care we render our patients every day,” said Anil Hingorani, MD, JVS-VL associate editor and DEI officer. “This peer-reviewed collection is meant to be a living set of articles focused on DEI, and more articles will be added in the future.”
Hingorani likened the virtual issue to print supplements of previous years, which “really drill down into a topic important to vascular surgery and really get into the weeds. This is a modern version.”
DEI issues are “sort of the elephant in the room,” pointing out many parts of the country will be majority non-white in the foreseeable future, he said. “As diversity spreads across the nation, we all need to be aware of this.”
In healthcare, diversity packs an impact, Hingorani continued. “It directly affects how patients present, how they’re diagnosed, treatment algorithms and support. Everything we do is affected by the patient’s identity.”
The collection currently includes four articles: “Race, sex and socioeconomic disparities affect the clinical stage of patients presenting for treatment of superficial venous disease”; “Black or African American patients undergo great saphenous vein ablation procedures for advanced venous disease and have the least improvement in their symptoms after these procedures”; “Importance of sensitivity to patients’ individual background in venous care”; and “A review of the current literature of ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic disparities in venous disease.” The fourth article is available via open access at vascular.org/JVSVL-DEIdisparitiesReview.
Each takes a slightly different tack. “It’s not just patient outcomes and presentations; DEI affects a lot more than patient-centered outcomes,” said Hingorani.
Four more, presented at the 2023 American Venous Forum and Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery (SCVS) meetings, are in the process of being added to the site.
The journal website permits JVS-VL to “bring together the best and most recent articles—top-notch, state-of-the-art ideas from around the world,” Hingorani said. The work to update the site, as opposed to a print journal, is simple, he added. It’s all part of the transition to open access and the online world, he said. “It’s something that’s happening, and I think it will continue. This is part of that process.”
Editors are always looking for new articles, he said, as he invited researchers to submit their work. Those who are submitting papers are excited about the new initiative. “There is a lot of enthusiasm to have a focus on DEI issues,” Hingorani said.
Visit www.jvsvenous.org/DEIinvascularsurgery to read the collection.
