Reply to “Skin of color representation in medical education: An analysis of popular preparatory materials used for United States Medical Licensing Examinations”: Underrepresentation in additional popular resources

Expanding the horizon: Skin of color in medical education — Reply to letter to the editor regarding: “Skin of color representation in medical education: An analysis of popular preparatory materials used for United States medical licensing examinations”

“…Concordant with our study, their analysis of the Boards and Beyond highlights the lack of SoC images in common dermatologic conditions in a separate commonly used United States Medical Licensing Examination preparatory resource. 1 Furthermore, we concur that the dearth of SoC images represented in the preparatory resources is likely a consequence of the systemic issues in medical education. We are at a pivotal point where medical educators must work diligently toward eradicating this gap in dermatologic education because this perpetuates health care disparities.…”

“…To the Editor: We greatly appreciate the comments by Militello et al 1 on our article ''Skin of Color Representation in Medical Education: An Analysis of Popular Preparatory Materials Used for United States Medical Licensing Examinations,'' 2 and commend their group for contributing their analysis of skin of color (SoC) images in Boards and Beyond to our findings. Concordant with our study, their analysis of the Boards and Beyond highlights the lack of SoC images in common dermatologic conditions in a separate commonly used United States Medical Licensing Examination preparatory resource.…”

Skin of color representation in medical education: An analysis of National Board of Medical Examiners' self-assessments and popular question banks

“…Emulating previous methods, we identified 223 dermatology-related images from analyzed question banks. 1,2 Duplicate or indeterminate (oral mucosa, acral surface, or poor image quality) images were excluded (n ¼ 27), resulting in 196 images for review: Step 1 AMBOSS (n ¼ 124), Kaplan (n ¼ 17), USMLERx Qmax (n ¼ 18), and NBME 1 or for skin cancer diagnoses (ie, melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma) in our material analysis (Table I). Additionally, there appears to be disproportionate SoC image representation among infectious conditions, totaling 11/26 (42%) diagnoses with SoC images, 3 of which are sexually transmitted (Table I).…”

Underrepresentation of skin of color in medical education: An updated analysis of popular question banks

“…To the Editor: We laud Meckley et al 1 for expanding upon our findings from our study ''Skin of color representation in medical education: An analysis of popular preparatory materials used for United States Medical Licensing Examinations'' (USMLE). 2 Their analysis of skin of color (SoC) images in AMBOSS Step 1, Kaplan Step 1, USMLERx Step 1 Qmax, and self-assessment examinations provided by the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) is undoubtedly an enormous addition to our original findings and to the contributions by Mitello et al 3 Analysis of the limitations to these resources is paramount to improving medical education. In their study, Meckley et al 1 reached the same conclusion regarding the lack of SoC images in commonly used USMLE preparatory resources.…”