Institutional and Faculty Partnerships to Promote Learner Preparedness for Health Professions Education.

By the year 2060, it is projected that 57% of the US population will be members of minority groups, with no one group being the majority. While there is increasing diversity of the population, there remain significant disparities in morbidity and mortality affecting minority groups, and persistent low numbers of underrepresented students in the health professions. Increasing the numbers of underrepresented minority students in health care and decreasing the disparity gap have been a priority for many institutions. Increasing diversity requires an approach that not only involves health professions schools but also involves undergraduate institutions, faculty, and other professionals who provide pre-health training to students. In 2018, a group of academic medicine leaders convened the Innovators, Collaborators, and Leaders conference with faculty at institutions across the state of North Carolina to discuss ways to improve learner preparedness for health professions education and increase numbers of underrepresented students pursuing health careers. In this manuscript, the authors share results from the conference and how institutional and faculty partnerships can promote learner preparedness for health professions education.

Responding to COVID-19: Perspectives on Curricular Changes in a Rural Medical School.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rapidly led to global human devastation, including multiple deaths, sicknesses, and financial reverberations across many individuals and communities. As COVID-19 gained its foothold in the United States, medical school administrators, faculty, and students had to undergo rapid change to mitigate the disease spread, putting all parties in dubious situations. Medical school administrators had to make swift and judicious decisions that would best serve the student body and the diverse patient population at clinical sites. Medical schools with students practicing in rural, remote regions with a dearth of healthcare resources have even more complicated decisions to make in these unprecedented times. We provide an overview of rapid decision-making processes that can be used by curriculum leaders and medical school administrators to continue to meet accreditation requirements while attempting to keep medical students safe and prepared for graduation in response to the COVID-19 health crisis.

An Exploratory Study of Stress Coping and Resiliency of Black Men at One Medical School: A Critical Race Theory Perspective.

Black men have reported a number of stressful experiences during medical school training. Guided by Critical Race Theory, the authors examined the survey responses of 16 Black men who matriculated at one medical school to assess perceptions of medical school stress. The researchers identified several themes: (1) perceived academic inequities created tension between Black and non-Black medical students but provided bonding opportunities among Black male medical students, (2) stress negatively impacted academic performance and personal health, and (3) use of social support and spirituality contributed to coping and resiliency. For Black male medical students, the general stress of medical school can be compounded by additional race-related stress. Supporting the success of Black male medical students requires understanding perceived stressors, a focus on helping Black men build social and spiritual connections that contribute to resiliency, and active efforts at the organizational level to address perceptions of academic inequity.