Efforts to Recruit Diverse Resident Complements in Family Medicine.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Family medicine is the most demographically diverse specialty in medicine today. Specialty associations and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) urge residency programs to engage in systematic efforts to recruit diverse resident complements. Using responses from program directors to the ACGME's mandatory annual update, we enumerate the efforts in resident recruiting. This allows us to compare these statements to the recommendations of two highly respected commissions: the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce and the Institute of Medicine's In the Nation's Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity of the Healthcare Workforce. METHODS: We compiled the annual updates from 689 family medicine programs and analyzed them using a qualitative method called template analysis. We then classified the efforts and compared them to the recommendations of the Sullivan Commission and Institute of Medicine (IOM). RESULTS: Nearly all (98%) of the programs completed the portion of the annual update inquiring about recruiting residents. The Sullivan Commission and IOM recommended 23 steps to diversify workforce recruiting. We found that programs engaged in all but one of these recommendations. Among the most frequently employed recommendations were doing holistic reviews and using data for planning. None mentioned engaging in public awareness campaigns. Programs also implemented eight strategies not suggested in either report, with staff training in nondiscrimination policies being among the most frequently mentioned. Among program efforts not included in the Sullivan Commission or IOM recommendations were extracurricular activities; appointing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) committees or advocates; subinternship (Sub-I) experiences; recruiting at conferences; blind reviews; legal compliance; and merit criteria. In total, we found 31 interventions in use. CONCLUSIONS: The Sullivan Commission's guidance, IOM recommendations, and program-developed initiatives can be combined to create a comprehensive roster of diversity recruiting initiatives. Programs may use this authoritative resource for identifying their next steps in advancing their recruiting efforts.

The Orthopaedic Workforce Is Not as Diverse as the Population It Serves: Where Are the Minorities and the Women?: AOA Critical Issues Symposium.

The lack of sex and racial diversity of the physicians within the specialty of orthopaedic surgery was recognized decades ago, and formal steps to address these issues began in 1983 with the founding of the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society and the J. Robert Gladden Orthopaedic Society. Despite the efforts of these organizations, the work of other interested groups, and the growing diversity in medical student demographics, physician diversity in orthopaedic surgery remains disproportionately poor relative to the populations that we serve as a specialty.

Pipeline program recruits and retains women and underrepresented minorities in procedure based specialties: A brief report.

As the US population continues to grow in racial and ethnic diversity, we also continue to see healthcare disparities across racial lines. Considerable attention has been given to creating a physician workforce that better reflects the population served by healthcare professionals. To address the low numbers of women and underrepresented minorities in procedural based specialties, Nth Dimensions has sought to address and eliminate healthcare disparities through strategic pipeline initiatives. This is a retrospective observational cohort study of 118 medical students from 29 accredited US medical schools, who were awarded a position in the Nth Dimensions Summer Internship program between 2005 and 2012. Overall, 84 NDSI scholars applied and 81 matched into procedure-based specialties; therefore the overall retention rate was 75% and the overall match rate across the eight cohorts was 72.3%. Through intervention-based change, the authors hypothesize that greater numbers in the residency training cohorts can lead to a greater number of physicians with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Ultimately, this will enhance quality of care for all patients and improve decision making process that influence healthcare systems. SUMMARY: Strategic pipeline programs increase successful recruit women and underrepresented minorities to apply and matriculate into procedure based residency programs. This is a retrospective observational cohort study of 118 medical students who completed the Nth Dimensions Summer Internship program between 2005 and 2012. Overall, 84 NDSI scholars applied and 81 matched into procedure-based specialties; therefore the overall retention rate was 75% and the overall match rate across the eight cohorts was 72.3%.

Can a Strategic Pipeline Initiative Increase the Number of Women and Underrepresented Minorities in Orthopaedic Surgery?

BACKGROUND: Women and minorities remain underrepresented in orthopaedic surgery. In an attempt to increase the diversity of those entering the physician workforce, Nth Dimensions implemented a targeted pipeline curriculum that includes the Orthopaedic Summer Internship Program. The program exposes medical students to the specialty of orthopaedic surgery and equips students to be competitive applicants to orthopaedic surgery residency programs. The effect of this program on women and underrepresented minority applicants to orthopaedic residencies is highlighted in this article. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: (1) For women we asked: is completing the Orthopaedic Summer Internship Program associated with higher odds of applying to orthopaedic surgery residency? (2) For underrepresented minorities, is completing the Orthopaedic Summer Internship Program associated with higher odds of applying to orthopaedic residency? METHODS: Between 2005 and 2012, 118 students completed the Nth Dimensions/American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Orthopaedic Summer Internship Program. The summer internship consisted of an 8-week clinical and research program between the first and second years of medical school and included a series of musculoskeletal lectures, hands-on, practical workshops, presentation of a completed research project, ongoing mentoring, professional development, and counselling through each participant's subsequent years of medical school. In correlation with available national application data, residency application data were obtained for those Orthopaedic Summer Internship Program participants who applied to the match between 2011 through 2014. For these 4 cohort years, we evaluated whether this program was associated with increased odds of applying to orthopaedic surgery residency compared with national controls. For the same four cohorts, we evaluated whether underrepresented minority students who completed the program had increased odds of applying to an orthopaedic surgery residency compared with national controls. RESULTS: Fifty Orthopaedic Summer Internship scholars applied for an orthopaedic residency position. For women, completion of the Orthopaedic Summer Internship was associated with increased odds of applying to orthopaedic surgery residency (after summer internship: nine of 17 [35%]; national controls: 800 of 78,316 [1%]; odds ratio [OR], 51.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 21.1-122.0; p < 0.001). Similarly, for underrepresented minorities, Orthopaedic Summer Internship completion was also associated with increased odds of orthopaedic applications from 2011 to 2014 (after Orthopaedic Summer Internship: 15 of 48 [31%]; non-Orthopaedic Summer Internship applicants nationally: 782 of 25,676 [3%]; OR, 14.5 [7.3-27.5]; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Completion of the Nth Dimensions Orthopaedic Summer Internship Program has a positive impact on increasing the odds of each student participant applying to an orthopaedic surgery residency program. This program may be a key factor in contributing to the pipeline of women and underrepresented minorities into orthopaedic surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, therapeutic study.