Attitudes Toward Implicit Bias and Implicit Bias Training Among Pediatric Residency Program Directors: A National Survey

Implicit Bias and Health Disparities Education in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

OBJECTIVE

 This study aimed to characterize implicit bias (IB) and health disparities (HD) education in neonatal-perinatal medicine (NPM), including current educational opportunities, resources, and barriers.

STUDY DESIGN

 A national web-based survey was sent to NPM fellows, neonatologists, and frontline providers after iterative review by education experts from the National Neonatology Curriculum Committee. Quantitative data were analyzed with chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. Qualitative data were evaluated using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

 Of the 452 NPM survey respondents, most desired additional IB (76%) and HD (83%) education. A greater proportion of neonatologists than fellows received IB (83 vs. 57%) and HD (87 vs. 74%) education. Only 41% of neonatologists reported that their institution requires IB training. A greater proportion of fellows than neonatologists expressed dissatisfaction with the current approaches for IB (51 vs. 25%, p < 0.001) and HD (43 vs. 25%, p = 0.015) education. The leading drivers of dissatisfaction included insufficient time spent on the topics, lack of specificity to NPM, inadequate curricular scope or depth, and lack of local educator expertise. A minority of faculty who were tasked to educate others have received specific educator training on IB (21%) and HD (16%). Thematic analysis of survey free-text responses identified three main themes on the facilitators and barriers to successful IB and HD education: individual, environmental, and curricular design variables.

CONCLUSION

 NPM trainees and neonatologists desire tailored, active, and expert-guided IB and HD education. Identified barriers are important to address in developing an effective IB/HD curriculum for the NPM community.

KEY POINTS

· There is a gap between the current delivery of IB/HD education and the needs of the NPM community.. · NPM trainees and neonatologists desire tailored, active, and expert-guided IB and HD education.. · A successful curriculum should be widely accessible, NPM-specific, and include facilitator training..

Evaluation of Implicit Bias Training in Continuing Medical and Nursing Education to Address Racial Bias in Maternity Health Care Settings

OBJECTIVES

Implicit bias can affect clinical decisions that influence the care received by patients whose ancestors had been subjected to unfair medical and social practices. However, literature describing the effects of implicit bias training as part of continuing medical and nursing education is scarce. We conducted a longitudinal evaluation of a training for maternal health care clinical and nonclinical staff.

METHODS

A total of 80 staff members at 2 clinical sites in Cleveland, Ohio, participated in the training and evaluation in 2020 and 2021. We used a mixed-methods evaluation to capture changes in knowledge, awareness of bias, and application of strategies to reduce biased behavior by conducting pre- and posttraining surveys immediately after training and interviews at 3 and 6 months posttraining. We conducted univariate and bivariate analyses of the surveys and recorded, transcribed, and analyzed interviews for themes.

RESULTS

Using a threshold of answering 3 of 5 knowledge questions correctly, 50 of 80 (62.5%) trainees who engaged in the evaluation passed the pretraining knowledge questions and 67 (83.8%) passed the posttraining knowledge questions. Of the 80 participants, 75 (93.8%) were women. Interviewees (n = 11) said that low staff-to-patient ratios, lack of racial and ethnic diversity in leadership, inadequate training on implicit bias, and lack of institutional consequences for poor behavior exacerbated bias in maternity care. Interviewees reported having heightened awareness of bias and feeling more empowered after the training to advocate for themselves and patients to prevent and mitigate bias in the hospital.

CONCLUSION

Additional study describing the effect of implicit bias training as part of continuing medical education should be conducted, and administrative and management changes should also be made to prevent bias and improve quality of care.

Pipeline to Military Orthopaedic Leadership: 20 Years of Race and Gender Diversity Trends Within Military Orthopaedic Surgery Fellowship Training

Background

The lack of trainees from underrepresented race and gender backgrounds in orthopaedic surgery fellowship training has been well reported in the literature. The purpose of this study was to investigate the demographic trends of federally sponsored military orthopaedic surgery fellows in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. We hypothesize that there has been an increase in women selected for fellowship but that there has been no change in the race demographics of military fellows over the past 2 decades.

Methods

A retrospective review of all available demographic data collected by the Army, Air Force, and Navy since the beginning of tracking federally funded fellowship training in orthopaedic surgery was completed (1998-2021). Data were grouped into 4-year periods for analysis to closely mirror the military assignment cycle.

Results

Three hundred sixty-two military orthopaedic surgery fellowship board selectees were included in our analysis. The proportion of women fellows increased from 3% (n = 2/69) over 2001 to 2004 to 21% (n = 17/82) during 2017 to 2020 (p < 0.05). Fellows who identified as White comprised 82% (n = 297) of the cohort during the study period. Individuals who identified as Asian were the next highest proportion of fellows at 4% (n = 16), followed by Black (n = 14, 4%) and Hispanic (n = 13, 3%). Individuals who identified as Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander represented 1% (n = 3), and an additional 6% (n = 20) fellows identified as "other" or "undeclared." Over the 20-year study period, representation of Asian, Black, Native Hawaiian, and Hispanic fellows did not increase (p = 0.79, 0.81, 0.45, 0.34, respectively).

Conclusions

Within military orthopaedics, there has been increased representation of women in fellowship training over the past 20 years. However, the proportion of fellows from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups has remained stagnant. One barrier to improving gender and race representation is the currently imprecise and inconsistent collection of demographic information. Importantly, fellowship training has a direct effect on future leadership opportunities within the military orthopaedic surgery community. A more diverse leadership may help to inspire future generations of military orthopaedic surgeons.

Level of Evidence

IV.

Differences in Trainee Evaluations of Faculty by Rater and Ratee Gender

PURPOSE

To examine whether gender differences exist in medical trainees' (residents' and fellows') evaluations of faculty at a number of clinical departments.

METHOD

The authors conducted a single-institution (University of Minnesota Medical School) retrospective cohort analysis of 5,071 trainee evaluations of 447 faculty (for which trainee and faculty gender information was available) completed between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2022. The authors developed and employed a 17-item measure of clinical teaching effectiveness, with 4 dimensions: overall teaching effectiveness, role modeling, facilitating knowledge acquisition, and teaching procedures. Using both between- and within-subject samples, they conducted analyses to examine gender differences among the trainees making ratings (rater effects), the faculty receiving ratings (ratee effects), and whether faculty ratings differed by trainee gender (interaction effects).

RESULTS

There was a statistically significant rater effect for the overall teaching effectiveness and facilitating knowledge acquisition dimensions (B = -0.28 and -0.14, 95% CI: [-0.35, -0.21] and [-0.20, -0.09], respectively, P < .001, medium corrected effect sizes between -0.34 and -0.54); female trainees rated male and female faculty lower than male trainees on both dimensions. There also was a statistically significant ratee effect for the overall teaching effectiveness and role modeling dimensions (B = -0.09 and -0.08, 95% CI: [-0.16, -0.02] and [-0.13, -0.04], P = .01 and < .001, respectively, small to medium corrected effect sizes between -0.16 and -0.44); female faculty were rated lower than male faculty on both dimensions. There was not a statistically significant interaction effect.

CONCLUSIONS

Female trainees rated faculty lower than male trainees and female faculty were rated lower than male faculty on 2 teaching dimensions each. The authors encourage researchers to continue to examine the reasons for the evaluation differences observed and how implicit bias interventions might help to address them.

Racial and Ethnic Bias in Medical School Clinical Grading: A Review

OBJECTIVE

Improving diversity in healthcare is a widely recognized national goal. The diversity of medical student matriculants has increased, yet this trend is not seen in the composition of competitive residency programs. In this review, we examine racial and ethnic disparities in medical student grading during clinical years and explore the consequences of how this may exclude minority students from accessing competitive residency positions.

DESIGN

Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and ERIC databases using variations of the terms "race," "ethnicity," "clerkship," "rotation," "grade," "evaluation", or "shelf exam." Of 391 references found using the criteria, 29 were related to clinical grading and race/ethnicity and included in the review. The GRADE criteria were used to determine the quality of evidence.

SETTING

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore MD.

RESULTS

Five studies examining a total of 107,687 students from up to 113 different schools found racial minority students receive significantly fewer Honors grades in core clerkships compared to White students. Three studies examining 94,814 medical student evaluations from up to 130 different schools found significant disparities in the wording of written clerkship evaluations based on race and/or ethnicity.

CONCLUSIONS

A large body of evidence suggests the presence of racial bias in subjective clinical grading and written clerkship evaluations of medical students. Grading disparities can disadvantage minority students when applying to competitive residency programs and may contribute to a lack of diversity in these fields. As low minority representation has a negative impact on patient care and research advancement, strategies to resolve this issue must be further explored.

Implicit Bias Training in Health Professions Education: A Scoping Review

There is a recurrent call for effective implicit bias (IB) education within health professions education (HPE). We aimed to explore the state of IB education within HPE for clinical learners and IB educators using the Arksey and O'Malley scoping review framework. Thirty publications variable in curricular design met inclusion criteria. No studies assessed learner outcomes at the level of Miller's "shows" or "does" nor reported program evaluation outcomes at the level of Kirkpatrick's "behavior" or "results." Rigorous, theory-guided studies assessing behavioral change, patient care delivery, and patient outcomes are needed to move the field of IB education forward within HPE.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-022-01673-z.

Implicit Bias and Caring for Diverse Populations: Pediatric Trainee Attitudes and Gaps in Training

The objective of this study was to determine the attitudes, skill level, and preferred educational interventions of pediatric residents related to implicit bias and caring for diverse patient populations. A cross-sectional survey of pediatric residents at a single, large urban residency program was utilized. Surveys were completed by 88 (55%) residents who were 69% female and 35% non-White or mixed race. Almost all residents felt that it was very or extremely important to receive training on health disparities, diverse patient populations, and implicit bias. Self-assessment of skill level revealed that residents felt confident in areas often covered by cultural competency curricula, such as interpreter use, but were less confident in other areas. The top 3 areas identified for further training included implicit bias, working with transgender and gender nonconforming patients, and weight bias. For the majority of diversity and bias-related skills, prior training was significantly correlated with higher skill level (P < .05).