To Be Seen, Heard, and Valued: Strategies to Promote a Sense of Belonging for Women and Underrepresented in Medicine Physicians

Abstract

Lingering unconscious biases and daily cues continue to permeate and persist in academic medicine environments in the form of the exclusion of physicians who are women or racially/ethnically underrepresented in medicine. Academic medicine environments must change so that women and underrepresented in medicine racial/ethnic groups are seen, heard, and valued. A shared awareness among faculty, administrators, and trainees can inform the development of intentional strategies to alter individual behaviors, academic spaces, and institutional processes to cultivate a sense of belonging. Shifting the norms in medicine and the course of historical exclusion will require professional development in areas of inclusive teaching practices, skills to cultivate mentoring relationships with diverse trainees, and fostering discussions about the relevance of personal identity, as well as attention to the symbolism and imagery in institutional messages (e.g., portraits on the walls, website, marketing campaigns) and to the value of including community involvement in productivity metrics.

“All Patients Are Not Treated as Equal”: Extending Medicine’s Social Contract to Black/African American Communities

“…Our results describe how Black physicians are extending the social contract to Black patients by directly addressing the underlying racial contract that exists in the country. Our analysis forwards the growing support for recognizing, listening and valuing minoritized physicians 43 and the need to move beyond white norms to include those of minoritized physicians conducing reparation work in light of the country's racial contract.…”

Opening up the black box of a Gateway to Medicine programme: a realist evaluation

“…The literature on strategies to promote a sense of belonging in under-represented groups highlights the importance of ensuring that academic environments are inclusive. 47 These were enabled by the work placements, being a university student and feeling adequately challenged by the Gateway curriculum. Establishing financial security was identified as mechanism three.…”

Towards equitable learning environments for medical education: Bias and the intersection of social identities

“…[50][51][52][53] Using the social identity approach, we can understand why and how academic medicine continues to create a 'culture of exclusion' for women. 54 Gender impacts the specialties that individuals train in. [55][56][57] This phenomenon is often explained by lifestyle decisions; women tend to select specialties with regular working hours to accommodate their role as primary caretaker.…”

“…Many institutions have tried to tackle gender inequities through formal policies and procedures, but these efforts have been criticised for failing to address informal interactions in the workplace 67,68 . It is during these informal interactions, however, that social identities play out and become salient 54,59 . To address this problem, interventions targeting individuals and social groups may be helpful.…”