Summer research training programme in health care disparities

Abstract

learning the new skill of balancing and rowing synchronously in a shell. The scholars also completed a team management-style profile and, in the second session, received personalised feedback about their preferred approaches to work and work-related interactions. Based on this information, the scholars selected accountability partners, who help them plan and achieve career goals. The third session was devoted to identifying these goals and writing action plans to accomplish them. This process includes identifying individuals who should be recruited Ôinto oneÕs boat' to help one reach goals. Evaluation of results During the final session, scholars identified the programme's strengths and weaknesses. Scholars were engaged by the actual rowing and its use as metaphor. They found learning about their personal management styles, preferences and techniques valuable for interacting with people with opposite styles. The scholars desired opportunities to bring members of their departmental work teams into sessions, and to create exercises ⁄ language tailored specifically for health professions educators. Despite initial resistance to viewing their cohort as their team of reference, several reported that they planned to remain in contact with their accountability partners. Further, the group committed to working together past graduation to mount a faculty development workshop for clinician educators. A revised OARS Programme will galvanise future cohorts and graduated scholars into a force for educational innovation and change. Context and setting This project was sponsored by the Michigan State University Centre for Excellence in Minority Education and Health. A 5-week, full-time summer research programme was designed, with a focus on enhancing medical students' knowledge of health care disparities and cultural diversity, basic principles of research, and increasing under-represented minority students' awareness of careers in academic medicine. Why the idea was necessary According to the Institute of Medicine's 2002 report Unequal Treatment, evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in health care is remarkably consistent across a broad range of health care issues and services. We need to increase the proportion of under-represented US racial and ethnic minorities among health professionals, and there remains a need for research into issues that impact minority populations and are related to health services and policy, epidemiology, health promotion and disease prevention, and outcomes. What was done Small groups were used to increase students' coverage of issues and to encourage collaborative skills. Students formed work groups around 1 of 4 pre-selected general topics related to health disparities: (a) diabetes; (b) mental health; (c) infant mortality, and (d) cancer screening and management.An introductory binder of readings was created for each group to help jumpstart students' scholarship about their chosen area. Each group was expected to focus on a more specific question within the general area. They were required...

Innovative Health Care Disparities Curriculum for Incoming Medical Students

“…8 Unfortunately, cultural competency programs have been criticized as lacking a comprehensive skill set, being limited in scope by not sufficiently addressing important social, political, and economic factors that contribute to health and health care disparities, and failing to demonstrate improved health outcomes or diminished health disparities. 9,10 The few existing evaluations of disparities courses are limited by the small number of students participating, 11 or evaluation tools that measured significant changes in attitudes but did not measure changes in knowledge or skills regarding health disparities. 12 Therefore, we developed and evaluated an elective course on health care disparities designed to: 1) introduce incoming first year medical students to health disparities issues and improve their knowledge, skills, and attitudes, 2) help medical students to become aware of personal biases regarding racial and ethnic minorities, 3) inspire medical students to make a commitment to serve indigent populations.…”

Teaching Health Disparities Awareness in Undergraduate Public Health Courses

“…Low levels of health disparities awareness have been reported among the general public and racial minority groups (Benz, Espinosa, Welsh & Fontes, 2011). It is important to develop courses that improve and measure changes in health disparities-related knowledge, aptitudes and skills (Tang, Fantone, & Bozynski, & Adams, 2002;Mavis, Keefe, & Reznich, 2004). While efforts have been made to incorporate health disparities courses into medical school curriculum (Ross et al, 2010;Vela, Kim, Tang & Chin, 2010), there are benefits to introducing health disparities courses earlier in the educational pipeline to promote engagement, preparation, and motivation of a future healthcare workforce (Benabentos et al, 2014).…”

Enhancing existing medical school curricula with an innovative healthcare disparities curriculum

“…Additionally, healthcare disparities education can more consistently portray minority populations who may not be represented among medical school faculty, staff, or students [ 10 , 11 ]. Comprehensive education that includes minority health in a physician’s formative pre-clinical years improves patient outcomes [ 12 – 14 ]. However, vague or open-ended healthcare disparities curricula may impede non-URM students’ learning and comfort related to healthcare disparities [ 15 ].…”