Commentary: Racism and Bias in Health Professions Education: How Educators, Faculty Developers, and Researchers Can Make a Difference

Abstract

The Research in Medical Education (RIME) Program Planning Committee is committed to advancing scholarship in and promoting dialogue about the critical issues of racism and bias in health professions education (HPE). From the call for studies focused on underrepresented learners and faculty in medicine to the invited 2016 RIME plenary address by Dr. Camara Jones, the committee strongly believes that dismantling racism is critical to the future of HPE.The evidence is glaring: Dramatic racial and ethnic health disparities persist in the United States, people of color remain deeply underrepresented in medical school and academic health systems as faculty, learner experiences across the medical education continuum are fraught with bias, and current approaches to teaching perpetuate stereotypes and insufficiently challenge structural inequities. To achieve racial justice in HPE, academic medicine must commit to leveraging positions of influence and contributing from these positions. In this Commentary, the authors consider three roles (educator, faculty developer, and researcher) represented by the community of scholars and pose potential research questions as well as suggestions for advancing educational research relevant to eliminating racism and bias in HPE.

Differential attainment in medical education and training

“…Forty per cent of UK medical students are from ethnic minority groups,15 yet teachers are often ill equipped to discuss ethnicity, and students are taught about ethnic differences as a problem to manage 16. We need doctors to teach about diversity in an integrated and sensitive manner and to create environments in which diversity is understood and celebrated.…”

Exploring Racism and Health: An Intensive Interactive Session for Medical Students

“…12–16 In this context, teaching medical professionals about structural racism and how to recognize and address bias in clinical encounters has become increasingly imperative. 11,17–20…”

How to Make or Break Implicit Bias Instruction: Implications for Curriculum Development

“…Gaining insight into faculty members’ perspectives and ability to discuss race and discrimination has been recommended as a way to inform the design and implementation of related faculty development efforts. 32 Incorporating participants’ perspectives identified from our study into faculty development programs in implicit bias should enhance faculty perceptions of their facilitation abilities.…”